uranium enrichment
Boosting fissile percentage
Uranium enrichment is the process of increasing the concentration of the fissile isotope uranium-235 in natural uranium, which contains mostly uranium-238.
Natural uranium is about 0.7% U-235; enrichment raises this to 3-5% for nuclear reactor fuel or above 90% for weapons-grade material.
The technology—typically gas centrifuges—is tightly controlled internationally because enrichment capability is the key step toward nuclear weapons production.
- fissionNuclear breakup releasing energy
- centrifugationSpinning to separate densities
- critical massThreshold for self-sustaining reaction
- atomic bombFission-triggered mass destruction device
- plutoniumActinide, atomic number 94
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