"Uranium oxide" refers to a compound made up of uranium and oxygen atoms. It is a type of uranium mineral that is commonly used for producing nuclear energy and as a component in nuclear weapons.
Full definition
A nuclear reactor generates power from a cluster of fuel rods inside its core, each filled
with uranium oxide.
Rather than the pellets
of uranium oxide used in other fast reactors and conventional reactors as fuel, GE would fabricate metal alloy fuels, with the plutonium or uranium mixed with zirconium metal.
PHWRs are similar to PWRs, but use raw uranium rather than
enriched uranium oxide as fuel, and deploy heavy water — in which hydrogen is replaced by deuterium — as both moderator and coolant.
The next step is the mixing; this stage consists of creating a uniform mix of virgin
uranium oxide powder (UO2) and the clean recycled material (U3O8), normally a pore - former.
(very much in the model of a «thow away society») When we start out with
pure uranium oxide, (roughly 97 % U-238 and 3 % U-235) and run it though current methods we end up with three broad categories of «stuff» in the fuel.
The 3.7 - meter - long nuclear fuel used at Fukushima is composed of
uranium oxide pellets encased in a zirconium cladding.
As well as its ability to pierce armour plating, DU has the unfortunate tendency to ignite on impact, creating clouds of
uranium oxide dust — facilitating its spread in the environment and increasing the danger posed by the alpha radiation it emits.
While some scientists thought the uranium hydroxide might revert to less
dangerous uranium oxide, Scott's experiments have shown that it persists in some instances.
The report also points out that RTZ's records on radiation doses show that before 1982 individual workers were exposed to more than the permissible doses in the final processing areas, where ore is roasted to
recover uranium oxide.
At a conversion plant,
uranium oxide combines with fluorine gas to create uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a chemical compound that is a powder at room temperature and a gas when heated.
Once extracted, miners process the ore at a mill, concentrate it
into uranium oxide and ship it to a conversion facility.
• Ceramic process in
which uranium oxide powder is used to manufacture pellets; these pellets are inserted into zirconium alloy tubes which, once they are loaded, pressurized and sealed, are called fuel rods.
In the United States in the late 1950s, for example, uranium ore contained roughly 0.28
percent uranium oxide.
Older versions, known as Magnox reactors, use uranium metal as fuel, while newer ones use
enriched uranium oxide.
Their studies showed that both types of uraninite, the chemically synthesized coarse - grained
pure uranium oxide and the biogenic form, had similar solubility and comparable dissolution rates when oxygen was present and when it wasn't, consistent with their similar crystal core structures.
The resulting mixture is then chemically transformed into «yellowcake» — a brown or black powder concentrate
of uranium oxide.
«When uranium corrodes, it can form either
uranium oxide or uranium hydride.
He found that while
the uranium oxide barrier reduces the amount of corrosion (and swelling) from water as it grows thicker, it does not prevent hydrogen from reaching the uranium.
«
Uranium oxide (UO2) is the normal product of uranium corrosion.
Light water - cooled graphite - moderated reactors Fuelled by low - enriched
uranium oxide, these reactors use graphite as a moderator and water to cool the core.
Enriched
uranium oxide is formed into rods and water is used both as a coolant, flowing through the reactor core to transfer heat away, and as a moderator, slowing down neutrons released by fission so that they promote further nuclear reactions.
The fuel is enriched
uranium oxide, and water is used both as a coolant and as a moderator.
«Often forgotten, is the need for us to make sure that the buyers of
our uranium oxide are able, in the face of resistance to nuclear power, to talk proudly about the responsible mining (and mine site rehabilitation) of their suppliers in Australia.
«Currently there are 25 bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements covering 43 countries to export
our uranium oxide; Australia should be looking to capitalise on the eventual rebound in demand for uranium oxide and be prepared for an expansion in the nuclear power generating industry, especially in developing countries.»
The enriched UF6 then goes to a fabrication plant where it is converted back to
uranium oxide and formed into small ceramic pellets.
After several weeks,
uranium oxide - laden fibers are collected and subjected to an acidic treatment that releases, or desorbs, uranyl ions, regenerating the adsorbent for reuse.
Recovery of
the uranium oxide by oxidation: The pellets eliminated in any stage, and especially during the inspection stage, are oxidized and recovered as recycled uranium oxide that is put back again into the mixing stage.
The first operation is reception of the drums with
the uranium oxide powder.
Small portions of Pu - 239 can be added to newly - manufactured nuclear fuel to produce MOX fuel or mixed oxide fuel, which contains a combination of plutonium oxide and
uranium oxide.
Conventional nuclear waste contains 96.6 %
uranium oxide, 3.4 % fission products and 1 % long lived actinides.