Nuclear Fuel Cycle - World Nuclear Association

HOME / INFORMATION LIBRARY / NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE

Information Library

Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Conversion Enrichment and Fabrication

The current fleet of nuclear reactors runs primarily on uranium fuel enriched up to 5% uranium-235 (U-235). High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) is defined as uranium enriched to greater than 5% an...

Conversion and Deconversion

Prior to enrichment, uranium oxide must be converted to a fluoride so that it can be processed as a gas, at low temperature. Conversion plants are operating commercially in Canada, France, Russia and ...

Fuel Fabrication

Fuel fabrication is the final stage in nuclear fuel preparation prior to use in a reactor. Nuclear fuel assemblies are specifically designed for particular types of reactors and are made to exacting s...

Uranium Enrichment

Most of the commercial nuclear power reactors in the world today require uranium 'enriched' in the U-235 isotope for their fuel. The commercial process employed for this enrichment involves ga...

Nuclear Power Reactors

Small Nuclear Power Reactors

There is revival of interest in small and simpler units for generating electricity from nuclear power, and for process heat. This interest in smaller nuclear power reactors is driven both by a desire ...

Generation IV Nuclear Reactors

An international task force is developing six nuclear reactor technologies for deployment between 2020 and 2030. Four are fast neutron reactors. All six systems represent advances in sustainabili...

Heavy Manufacturing of Power Plants

A critical issue for accelerating nuclear power plant construction is the availability of heavy engineering plants to make the reactor components, especially for those units of more than 1100 MWe.&nbs...

Nuclear Power Reactors

About 10% of the world's electricity is produced from nuclear energy. Most nuclear electricity is generated using just two kinds of reactor. New designs are coming forward and some are in ope...

Advanced Nuclear Power Reactors

Improved designs of nuclear power reactors are currently being developed in several countries. Newer advanced reactors now being built have simpler designs which reduce capital cost. They are more fue...

Introduction

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Overview

The nuclear fuel cycle is the series of industrial processes which involve the production of electricity from uranium in nuclear power reactors. Uranium is a relatively common element that is found th...

Physics of Nuclear Energy

Neutrons in motion are the starting point for everything that happens in a nuclear reactor. When a neutron passes near to a heavy nucleus, for example uranium-235, the neutron may be captured by the n...

What is Uranium? How Does it Work?

Uranium is a very heavy metal which can be used as an abundant source of concentrated energy. Uranium occurs in most rocks in concentrations of 2 to 4 parts per million and is as common in t...

Nuclear Waste

Storage and Disposal of Radioactive Waste

Most low-level radioactive waste is typically sent to land-based disposal immediately following its packaging. Many long-term waste management options have been investigated worldwide which seek to pr...

Treatment and Conditioning of Nuclear Waste

Treatment and conditioning processes are used to convert radioactive waste materials into a form that is suitable for its subsequent management.

Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities

Decommissioning costs for nuclear power plants, including disposal of associated wastes, contribute only a small fraction of the total cost of electricity generation. Proven techniques and equipm...

International Nuclear Waste Disposal Concepts

There have been several proposal for regional and international repositories for disposal of high-level nuclear wastes and several projects are being investigated.

Radioactive Waste Management

Nuclear waste is neither particularly hazardous nor hard to manage relative to other toxic industrial wastes. The amount of radioactive waste is very small relative to wastes produced by fossil f...

Radioactive Waste – Myths and Realities

There are a number of pervasive myths regarding both radiation and radioactive wastes. Some lead to regulation and actions which are counterproductive to human health and safety.

Transport

Transport of Radioactive Material

Radioactive material accounts for a very small proportion of all dangerous material shipped each year. About 20 million consignments of radioactive material are transported each year on public roads, ...

Japanese Waste and MOX Shipments From Europe

Reprocessing of Japanese used fuel has been undertaken in UK and France under contract with Japanese utilities. Recovered fissile materials are returned to Japan as reactor fuel, notably as mixed oxid...

Fuel Recycling

Mixed Oxide Fuel MOX

Mixed oxide (MOX) fuel provides about 2% of the new nuclear fuel used today. MOX fuel is manufactured from plutonium recovered from used reactor fuel. MOX fuel also provides a means of burning weapons...

Plutonium

Over one-third of the energy produced in most nuclear power plants comes from plutonium. It is created there as a by-product. Plutonium has occurred naturally, but except for trace quantities it is no...

Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel

Used nuclear fuel has long been reprocessed to extract fissile materials for recycling and to reduce the volume of high-level wastes. New reprocessing technologies are being developed to be deployed i...

Uranium Resources

Geology of Uranium Deposits

Uranium occurs in a number of different igneous, hydrothermal and sedimentary geological environments. The major primary ore mineral is uraninite or pitchblende, though a range of other uran...

Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel

Weapons-grade uranium and plutonium is being made available for use as civil fuel. Highly-enriched uranium from weapons stockpiles met about 13% of world reactor requirements through to 2013.

Supply of Uranium

Uranium is a relatively common metal, found in rocks and seawater. Economic concentrations of it are not uncommon.

The Cosmic Origins of Uranium

The Earth's uranium has been thought to be produced in one or more supernovae over 6 billion years ago. More recent research suggests it could also be created through the merger of neutron stars. ...

Uranium and Depleted Uranium

The basic fuel for a nuclear power reactor is uranium. Uranium occurs naturally in the Earth's crust and is mildly radioactive. Depleted uranium is a by-product from uranium enrichment.

Uranium from Phosphates

Rock phosphate deposits contain many million tonnes of uranium, which may be extracted as a by-product of making fertilisers. The process because uneconomic in the 1990s, but process improvements and ...

Uranium From Rare Earths Deposits

A large amount of uranium is in rare earths deposits, and may be extracted as a by-product. Higher uranium prices and geopolitical developments would enhance the economic potential for recovering thes...

Uranium Markets

Production from world uranium mines has in recent years supplied 90% of the requirements of power utilities. Primary production from mines is supplemented by secondary supplies, principally by ex...

Mining of Uranium

In Situ Leach Mining of Uranium

Most uranium mining in the USA and Kazakhstan is now by in situ leach methods. In the USA, ISL is seen as the most cost effective and environmentally acceptable method of mining, and Australian ...

Uranium Mining Overview

In the last 60 years uranium has become one of the world's most important energy minerals. It is used almost entirely for making electricity, though a small proportion is used for the important ta...

World Uranium Mining Production

Nearly three-quarters of the world's production of uranium from mines is from Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia and Namibia. Another 11 countries contribute the rest.

Environmental Aspects of Uranium Mining

In most respects the environmental aspects of a uranium mine are the same as those of other metalliferous mining. Most uranium mines in Australia and Canada have ISO 14001 certification. The...