Uranium is an abundant metal and is full of energy: One uranium fuel pellet creates as much energy as one ton of coal, 149 gallons of oil or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. It does not come out of the ground ready to go into a reactor, though. It is mined and processed to create nuclear fuel. Show
How Is Nuclear Fuel Made?
What Happens to Nuclear Fuel After It’s Been in a Reactor?
Did you know that 19% of America’s electricity comes from nuclear power? That’s an incredible stat given the
fact that there are just 92 nuclear reactors operating in the United States. That’s right, 54 nuclear power plants, located in 28 states, are fueling the future with reliable electricity that we can use every day—and all the time. They also provide more clean energy to the grid than any other energy source, accounting for half of the country’s clean energy electricity production. But this incredible technology isn’t new. Nuclear energy has been powering the U.S. grid for the past 6 decades and produces around 1 gigawatt of power per plant on average. Just how much power is that exactly? It’s kind of a lot, as you can tell from the infographic below. Dig into other energy-related comparisons with this interactive graphic involving burritos and dynamite! *Updated July 2022 Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium has the highest atomic weight of all naturally
occurring elements. Uranium occurs naturally in low concentrations in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite. Uranium ore can be mined from open pits or underground excavations. The ore can then be crushed and treated at a mill to separate the valuable uranium from the ore. Uranium may also be dissolved directly from the ore deposits in the ground (in-situ leaching) and pumped to the surface. Uranium mined from the earth is
stored, handled, and sold as uranium oxide concentrate (U3O8). Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, who isolated an oxide of uranium while analyzing pitchblende samples from the Joachimsthal silver mines in the former Kingdom of Bohemia, located in present-day Czechia. He named his discovery “uran” after the planet Uranus. For many years, uranium was used primarily as a colorant for ceramic glazes and for tinting in early photography. Its radioactive properties were not recognized until 1866, and its potential for use as an energy source was not manifested until the mid-20th century. Uranium is now used to power commercial nuclear reactors that produce electricity and to produce isotopes used for medical, industrial, and defense purposes around the world. Physical Properties of Uranium
Isotopic Properties of Uranium
How much uranium is used in nuclear power plant?About 27 tonnes of uranium – around 18 million fuel pellets housed in over 50,000 fuel rods – is required each year for a 1000 MWe pressurized water reactor. In contrast, a coal power station of equivalent size requires more than two and a half million tonnes of coal to produce as much electricity.
How long does uranium last in a nuclear power plant?To make that nuclear reaction that makes that heat, those uranium pellets are the fuel. And just like any fuel, it gets used up eventually. Your 12-foot-long fuel rod full of those uranium pellet, lasts about six years in a reactor, until the fission process uses that uranium fuel up.
Will uranium run out?The world's present measured resources of uranium (6.1 Mt) in the cost category less than three times present spot prices and used only in conventional reactors, are enough to last for about 90 years. This represents a higher level of assured resources than is normal for most minerals.
How much does a nuclear power plant produce per day?For example, if the R.E. Ginna reactor operates at 582 MW capacity for 24 hours, it will generate 13,968 megawatthours (MWh). If the reactor generated that amount of electricity for 365 days, it would generate 5,098,320 MWh. However, most power plants do not operate at full capacity every hour of every day of the year.
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