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The nominal spherical critical mass for an untampered 235 U nuclear weapon is 56 kilograms (123 lb), [6] which would form a sphere 17.32 centimetres (6.82 in) in diameter. The material must be 85% or more of 235 U and is known as weapons grade uranium, though for a crude and inefficient weapon 20% enrichment is sufficient (called weapon(s)-usable).
Depleted uranium has an even higher concentration of the 238 U isotope, and even low-enriched uranium (LEU), while having a higher proportion of the uranium-235 isotope (in comparison to depleted uranium), is still mostly 238 U. Reprocessed uranium is also mainly 238 U, with about as much uranium-235 as natural uranium, a comparable proportion ...
Depleted uranium has an even higher concentration of 238 U, and even low-enriched uranium (LEU) is still mostly 238 U. Reprocessed uranium is also mainly 238 U, with about as much uranium-235 as natural uranium, a comparable proportion of uranium-236, and much smaller amounts of other isotopes of uranium such as uranium-234, uranium-233, and ...
The only significant deviation from the 235 U to 238 U ratio in any known natural samples occurs in Oklo, Gabon, where natural nuclear fission reactors consumed some of the 235 U some two billion years ago when the ratio of 235 U to 238 U was more akin to that of low enriched uranium allowing regular ("light") water to act as a neutron ...
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 (99.3% U-238, 0.7% U-235) in fast breeder reactor: 86,000,000: Reactor-grade uranium (3.5% U-235) in light-water reactor: 3,456,000: 35%: Pu-238 α-decay:
It has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are 238 U (99.274%) and 235 U (0.711%). All uranium isotopes present in natural uranium are radioactive and fissionable, and 235 U is fissile (will support a neutron-mediated chain reaction). Uranium, thorium, and one radioactive isotope of potassium (40
Natural uranium (NU or U nat [1]) is uranium with the same isotopic ratio as found in nature. It contains 0.711% uranium-235 , 99.284% uranium-238 , and a trace of uranium-234 by weight (0.0055%). Approximately 2.2% of its radioactivity comes from uranium-235, 48.6% from uranium-238, and 49.2% from uranium-234.