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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]
By tonnage, separating natural uranium into enriched uranium and depleted uranium is the largest application. In the following text, mainly uranium enrichment is considered. This process is crucial in the manufacture of uranium fuel for nuclear power plants and is also required for the creation of uranium-based nuclear weapons (unless uranium ...
Infrared absorption spectra of the two UF 6 isotopes at 300 and 80 K. Schematic of a stage of an isotope separation plant for uranium enrichment with laser. An infrared laser with a wavelength of approx. 16 μm radiates at a high repetition rate onto a UF6 carrier gas mixture, which flows supersonically out of a laval nozzle.
The uranium for conventional reactors is enriched up to 5% and HALEU is uranium enriched between 5-20%. Highly enriched uranium is anything more than 20% and is used in weapons or naval submarines.
A cascade of gas centrifuges at a U.S. enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio, in 1984. Iran is using similar technology to enrich uranium. U.S. Department of EnergyIran’s nuclear program was a major ...
Enriched uranium is an integral ingredient, along with plutonium, for manufacturing nuclear warheads. It is enriched by placing it in centrifuges − machines that spin containers at very high ...
The Helikon vortex separation process is an aerodynamic uranium enrichment process designed around a device called a vortex tube. Paul Dirac thought of the idea for isotope separation and tried creating such a device in 1934 in the lab of Peter Kapitza at Cambridge. [1]