Education frontlines: Nuclear basics
Nuclear power reactors are not nuclear bombs. To understand the huge difference, it is necessary to understand the levels of uranium enrichment. Uranium from open pit or underground mining is usually only 0.1 percent or 1/1,000th uranium. It must go through a milling process in order to separate out most of the uranium and discard the ore. This natural uranium is made of a mix of 238U and 235U. Uranium 238 is stable, but 235U is “fissile.” This means that it is split with neutrons and in turn produces particles to continue the reaction, splitting other 235U atoms. The naturally extracted ore is usually over 99 percent the inert 238U. Nuclear reactors generally require enriched uranium with higher concentrations of 235U, usually between 3.5 and 4.5 percent.
