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Uranium-235 is a fissile isotope of uranium that exists in nature and can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is used as fuel for nuclear power plants and in nuclear weapons, and has a critical mass of 56 kilograms for an untampered weapon.
Uranium-235 (235U) is a radioactive isotope of uranium with a half-life of 7.04 × 108 years. It is fissile and can be used for nuclear reactors and weapons. Learn more about its decay mode, daughter isotope, and natural abundance.
Uranium-235 decays at a faster rate (half-life of 700 million years) compared to uranium-238, which decays extremely slowly (half-life of 4.5 billion years). Therefore, a billion years ago, there was more than double the uranium-235 compared to now. During the Manhattan Project, the name Tuballoy was used to refer to natural uranium in the ...
This web page provides a comprehensive list of radioactive nuclides (or isotopes) ordered by their half-lives, from shortest to longest. It also includes the names, symbols, and atomic numbers of each nuclide, as well as some examples of their applications and sources.
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]
Fissile material is material that can undergo nuclear fission with low-energy neutrons and sustain a chain reaction. Learn the difference between fissile and fissionable, the fissile nuclides, and their applications in nuclear engineering and weapons.
Fission product yields by mass for thermal neutron fission of U-235 and Pu-239 (the two typical of current nuclear power reactors) and U-233 (used in the thorium cycle). This page discusses each of the main elements in the mixture of fission products produced by nuclear fission of the common nuclear fuels uranium and plutonium.