Natural uranium
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Natural uranium (NU or Unat
Natural uranium can be used to fuel both low- and high-power
The 0.72% uranium-235 is not sufficient to produce a self-sustaining critical
On rare occasions, earlier in geologic history when uranium-235 was more abundant, uranium ore was found to have naturally engaged in fission, forming natural nuclear fission reactors. 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 refined condition; this term is still in occasional use. Uranium was also codenamed "X-Metal" during World War II. Similarly, enriched uranium was referred to as Oralloy (Oak Ridge alloy), and depleted uranium was referred to as Depletalloy (depleted alloy).
See also
- List of uranium mines
- Nuclear engineering
- Nuclear fuel cycle
- Nuclear physics
- Nuclear chemistry
References
- Design Parameters for a Natural Uranium Fueled Nuclear Reactor, C. M. Hopper et al., ORNL/TM-2002/240, November 2002.
- ^ "Nuclear Fuel Cycle Overview". World Nuclear Association. October 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-01-30. Retrieved 2014-10-15.
- ^ Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ed.). "Design Parameters for a Natural Uranium UO3- or U3O8-Fueled Nuclear Reactor" (PDF).
- ^ Loveland, W.; Morrissey, D.J.; Seaborg, G.T. (2006). "Chapter 16 Nuclear Reactor Chemistry". Modern Nuclear Chemistry (PDF).