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Natural uranium contains about 0.72% 235 U. Depleted uranium has lower mass fractions—up to three times less—of 235 U and 234 U than natural uranium. Since 238 U has a much longer half-life than the lighter isotopes, DU is about 40% less radioactive than natural uranium.
Reprocessed uranium will contain 236 U, which is not found in nature; this is one isotope that can be used as a fingerprint for spent reactor fuel. If using a thorium fuel to produce fissile 233 U, the SNF (Spent Nuclear Fuel) will have 233 U , with a half-life of 159,200 years (unless this uranium is removed from the spent fuel by a chemical ...
Depleted uranium (DU) is a byproduct of uranium enrichment that is used for defensive armor plating and armor-piercing projectiles. Uranium contamination has been found at testing sites in the UK, in Kazakhstan, and in several countries as a result of DU munitions used in the Gulf War and the Yugoslav wars. [1]
When fired, depleted uranium becomes ‘essentially an exotic metal dart fired at extraordinarily high speed’
Alpha radiation from inhaled uranium has been demonstrated to cause lung cancer in exposed nuclear workers. [138] While the CDC has published one study that no human cancer has been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium, [139] exposure to uranium and its decay products, especially radon, is a significant health threat. [140]
Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, is a blend of plutonium and natural or depleted uranium which behaves similarly (though not identically) to the enriched uranium feed for which most nuclear reactors were designed. MOX fuel is an alternative to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors which predominate nuclear power generation.
According to Michigan State University, the use of uranium was deregulated in 1958, and production of uranium glass picked up again—except this time, only depleted uranium was used.
When fired, depleted uranium becomes ‘essentially an exotic metal dart fired at extraordinarily high speed’