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11/10/21
18:21
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Originally posted by You3OAte:
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Weapons grade uranium and uranium used for power generation are both made from natural uranium extracted during mining operations. All uranium mines extract natural uranium. Natural uranium comprises about 0.7% U-235, which is the fissile component. There is a minute amount of U-234 and the vast majority is U-238 (about 99.3%). While the grade of the ore does change from deposit to deposit, the composition of the natural uranium in that ore does not. The difference between uranium used in power reactors and that used in weapons production is the degree of enrichment of the fissile U-235. For power reactors U-235 is enriched from 0.7% to 4.5% - 5.0% (reactor dependent). Weapons grade uranium is enriched to circa 90% U-235 content. Whether the natural uranium is produced from acid or alkaline processing makes no difference during enrichment; the uranium feed stock is the same at this point. It does make a difference during conversion (the step between mining and enrichment). The extraction technology (acid versus alkaline) can make make a difference in the level of impurities that contaminate the final yellowcake which becomes the feedstock for the converters. More impurities means more expensive purifying in the steps prior to conversion. Incidentally, acid processing almost always results in more impurities in the recovered lixiviant when compared to alkaline processing, that is, alkaline processing is more selective. Of course it does have advantages as well.
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Thankyou You3 that was a great answer to my thoughts you do now Uranium...