Nuclear power plants civilian research reactors certain naval fuel facilities uranium enrichment plants fuel fabrication plants and even potentially uranium mines are vulnerable to attacks which could lead to widespread radioactive contamination. The vulnerability of nuclear plants to deliberate attack is of concern in the area of nuclear safety and security. Learn more about uranium in this article.
It is ductile malleable and capable of taking a high polish. It is a dense hard metallic element that is silvery white in color. It is an important nuclear fuel.
Uranium radioactive chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table atomic number 92. Radioactive decay also known as nuclear decay radioactivity radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation a material containing unstable nuclei is considered radioactive three of the most common types of decay are alpha decay beta decay and gamma decay all of which involve emitting one or more particles. If the nuclear regulatory commission s nrc conclusion that it s safe to move spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants across the country to a proposed storage facility in lea county sounds vanilla coated it s because the draft environmental impact statement for a consolidated interim storage.
Dangerous nuclear waste casks should stay off roads and rails. About 10 of the world s electricity is generated from uranium in nuclear reactors. Who uses nuclear power.
When the uranium fuel has been in the reactor for about three years the used fuel is removed stored and then either reprocessed or disposed of underground see nuclear fuel cycle or radioactive waste management. The half lives of its naturally occurring isotopes range between 159 200 years and 4 5 billion years. It is a silvery grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table a uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons of which 6 are valence electrons uranium is weakly radioactive because all isotopes of uranium are unstable.
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol u and atomic number 92.
