It is a co product of the enrichment process. Depleted uranium contains a 235 u concentration of 0 711 percent or less. Highly enriched uranium heu is used in naval propulsion reactors nuclear weapons and in some research reactors.
Highly enriched uranium contains a 235 u concentration greater than 20 percent. In the latest effort to revive the united states s flagging nuclear industry the. 20 2020 5 20 pm.
By adrian cho may. Department of energy rushes to build advanced new nuclear reactors. However nations have finally begun to understand the safety aspects of thorium as a nuclear fuel and have started developing thorium based nuclear reactors.
Since the fission of thorium doesn t produce plutonium one of the elements used in nuclear weapons as a byproduct uranium the dual purpose nuclear fuel took precedence. It was fear of a uranium shortage that was behind the push for breeder reactors in the 1970s and their poster child the clinch river breeder reactor which was to be built on the tennessee valley. A nuclear reactor formerly known as an atomic pile is a device used to initiate and control a self sustained nuclear chain reaction nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid water or gas which in turn runs through steam turbines.
The heat created by splitting the u 235 atoms is then used to make steam which spins a turbine to drive a generator producing electricity. In a nuclear reactor the uranium fuel is assembled in such a way that a controlled fission chain reaction can be achieved.
