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CANDU Reactors are specifically designed such that they do not require enriched uranium, and can operate entirely on naturally-occurring uranium. A CANDU design is generally used by parties that do not desire uranium enrichment facilities, due to the cost of those facilities.
That said, a CANDU reactor CAN use enriched uranium, they are fully capable of supporting that fuel type.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoEnriched uranium: uranium with more than 0.7 % uranium 235. Uranium 238 is not enriched uranium.
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What is the half-life of the isotope of uranium used in a CANDU reactor?
CANDU reactors works now with natural uranium.Uranium 235- neutrons: 143- atomic mass: 235,043 929 918 ± 0,000 001 957- half life: 7,038.108 years- concentration in natural uranium: 0,7204 %- 235U is a fissile isotopeUranium 238- neutrons: 146- atomic mass: 238,050 788 247 ± 0,000 002 044- half life: 4,468.109 years- concentration in natural uranium: 99,2742 %- 238U is a fertile isotopeUranium 234not important
How is californium used in nuclear reactors?
We might use californium as a neutron source in a nuclear reactor. Californium is a neutron emitter, and it can be used to "enhance" start-up abilities of a reactor where the fuel isn't as "good" as it might be in a core of, say, highly enriched uranium.
Why do you use uranium and plutonium in the reactor?
Uranium and plutonium can be used as nuclear fuels for nuclear reactors.
Fuel for a fusion reaction is?
Most water moderated reactors use yellowcake powder: a uranium oxide enriched to 3% uranium-235. A few reactors use metallic uranium, sometimes enriched past 20%. Some experimental reactors use plutonium or mixed uranium & plutonium.
A radioactive element in nuclear power stations?
The metal most commonly used is enriched uranium, meaning that it has a higher percentage of uranium-235 than occurs in nature. Plutonium is also used in some reactors, in combination with uranium. And thorium can also be used, though research on its use has only just begun. Usually it is not the metal that is used in any case, but a compound of the metal. There is a link below.
What type of nuclear reactor is used in Ontario to produce electricity?
This is the Candu type, which was uniquely developed in Canada to use heavy water moderator and natural uranium fuel
What fuel does a nuclear reactor use?
Uranium-235 in combination with Uranium-238, enriched from natural levels of about 0.7% U-235 to about 5% U-235. There are other configurations, but this is the most common.
Heavy water is preferred as a moderator over normal water?
Heavy water has the advantage of being a good moderator and of absorbing fewer neutrons than does light water, so that natural (unenriched) uranium can be used. Light water demands enriched uranium, around 4 to 5 percent U-235. So you can make a choice: use heavy water which is expensive to produce, or use light water and expensive enriched uranium. You can see the different approach between the US and Canada. In the US there was experience of enrichment from the WW2 Manhattan project, in Canada there was no such experience but they had cheap hydro power to use to produce heavy water, so developed the Candu type of reactor.
What is the half-life of the isotope of uranium used in a CANDU reactor?
CANDU reactors works now with natural uranium.Uranium 235- neutrons: 143- atomic mass: 235,043 929 918 ± 0,000 001 957- half life: 7,038.108 years- concentration in natural uranium: 0,7204 %- 235U is a fissile isotopeUranium 238- neutrons: 146- atomic mass: 238,050 788 247 ± 0,000 002 044- half life: 4,468.109 years- concentration in natural uranium: 99,2742 %- 238U is a fertile isotopeUranium 234not important
What isotope of uranium is used as fuel in a candu reactor?
Candu reactors have traditionally used natural uranium, which contains 0.7 percent U-235, which is the fissile isotope that produces all the nuclear fission energy. Proposals have been made that Candus could use fuel that has been discharged from light water reactors and might still contain about 0.9 percent U-235, or could even use fuel made from depleted uranium (mostly U-238) together with fissile plutonium available from dismantled nuclear weapons, but I don't think such proposals have reached the stage of implementation. For one thing, Canada doesn't have any nuclear weapons, so it would require some fuel manufacture to be set up in the US to make this fuel, or to utilise US spent fuel. There is plenty of this in US storage but no route for using it to make Candu fuel, which is of different dimensions and assembly details. However this might conceivably be done in the future.
How is californium used in nuclear reactors?
We might use californium as a neutron source in a nuclear reactor. Californium is a neutron emitter, and it can be used to "enhance" start-up abilities of a reactor where the fuel isn't as "good" as it might be in a core of, say, highly enriched uranium.
What do nuclear power stations use as fuel?
Predominantly enriched uranium, but some reactors can use natural uranium.
Why do you use uranium and plutonium in the reactor?
Uranium and plutonium can be used as nuclear fuels for nuclear reactors.
Does the government use uranium?
Yes, the government uses uranium. Uranium is mined, refined and then enriched to provide nuclear fuel for nuclear reactors. Depleted uranium, the uranium "left over" from enrichment, is used in munitions to defeat armor, and in some types of armor. On a related note, enriched uranium is in demand by some sovern states and religeous/political factions to make nuclear weapons, though the "modern" nuclear powers use plutonium as the fissionable element in their nuclear devices. The plutonium is made by "soaking" uranium in the neutron flux of an operating nuclear reactor for a time. This changes (transmutes) some of the uranium to plutonium, which is then recovered and processed.
What is a use for Uranium fuel?
The use is to produce electricity from a nuclear reactor plant
What are the examples of fissions?
The only example of nuclear fission in a naturally occurring material is of Uranium 235, which comprises 0.7 percent of natural uranium, the rest being Uranium 238 which is not fissile. To use U235 in a nuclear reactor it is usually enriched to about 4 percent first, though reactors have been designed to use natural uranium. These have to use graphite or heavy water as moderator, as normal water absorbs too many neutrons. During reactor operation some of the U238 absorbs a neutron and becomes Plutonium 239 which is also fissile, so this contributes to a proportion of the reactor power which increases as the fuel is used and the U235 diminishes.
How much uranium is usually in a nuclear bomb?
Cca. 50 kg of highly enriched uranium. Now nuclear bombs use plutonium, not uranium.
