Nuclear Electric

<body> <p>Nuclear physics and nuclear engineering have been the most sensitive and sophisticated fields in science for half a century. The fuel used by nuclear power plants is uranium, a metallic element that is found in nature under the form of oxides as a component of several minerals. These oxides (general formula U3O8) can be separated from the minerals, obtaining what is known as “yellow cake”. Further processes allow the obtaining of Uranium Dioxide (UO2), with which the fuel rods are made. The most abundant isotope of the uranium, 238U, is not fissionable, whereas the fissionable isotope 235U represents only 0.7% of the element’s total mass. In order for the fission process to take place, the energy of the neutrons has to be reduced by means of a moderator, making it impossible for a chain reaction to occur in natural conditions. This problem has two solutions, and each gives birth to a line of reactors: the natural uranium reactors and the enriched uranium reactors. </p> </body>