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Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235 U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation.Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 U with 99.2732–99.2752% natural abundance), uranium-235 (235 U, 0.7198–0.7210%), and uranium-234 (234 U, 0.0049–0.0059%).
Natural uranium is made weapons-grade through isotopic enrichment. Initially only about 0.7% of it is fissile U-235, with the rest being almost entirely uranium-238 (U-238). They are separated by their differing masses. Highly enriched uranium is considered weapons-grade when it has been enriched to about 90% U-235. [citation needed]
The Centrus plant in Ohio is the only facility in the U.S. licensed to enrich uranium up to 19.75%, the upper threshold for the coveted high-assay, low-enriched uranium. That's far more potent ...
While heavy water is very expensive to isolate from ordinary water (often referred to as light water in contrast to heavy water), its low absorption of neutrons greatly increases the neutron economy of the reactor, avoiding the need for enriched fuel. The high cost of the heavy water is offset by the lowered cost of using natural uranium and/or ...
HALEU is uranium enriched to between 5% and 20%, which backers say has the potential to make new high-tech reactors more efficient. Uranium fuel used in today's reactors is enriched to about 5%.
Clean Core Thorium Energy is a nuclear fuel company exploring thorium-driven nuclear innovations. Clean Core’s patented nuclear fuel technology (called the ANEEL™ fuel) is comprised of thorium and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and can improve the safety and cost-efficiency of pressurized heavy-water reactors.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Centrus Energy Corp. will be producing the high-assay, low-enriched uranium at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, about 68 miles (109 kilometers) south of Columbus.
The "special nuclear materials" are also plutonium-239, uranium-233, and enriched uranium (U-235). Note that the 1980 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material definition of nuclear material does not include thorium. [4] The NRC has a regulatory process for nuclear materials with five main components. [5]