Why do they use uranium in power stations?

Answer 1

Because uranium-235 can easily be made to fission in a reactor with a moderator to slow the neutrons down, a chain reaction can be sustained, and heat is generated which can be harnessed for electricity. Uranium is usually used because it is the largest naturally occurring atom. A smaller atom would not split as easily, and a larger atom would first need to be created before it could be split.

Also Uranium-235 is the only isotope capable of undergoing fission and supporting a chain reaction of any element on earth that occurs naturally at high enough levels (0.72% of natural Uranium) to make it economically extractable. Other fissionable materials have to be produced in sufficient quantities in "breeder reactors" where the radiation converts certain non-fissionable elements into other fissionable elements through neutron capture. Because uranium is much more common that was believed early in the development of nuclear reactors, it is much more economical to refine naturally occurring uranium (separating the U-235 from U238) than to use breeder reactors to convert non-fissionable isotopes into fissionable ones and then refine the result to produce more nuclear fuel.

A very slightly different world (e.g. older) and nuclear energy and weapons might never have been possible at all.

Answer 2

Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring isotope that will support a nuclear fission chain reaction. Any other isotopes that support a nuclear fission chain reaction would have to be produced by a Uranium fueled reactor before they could be used in a nuclear reactor.

Answer 3

Conventional nuclear power plants operate on the basis of fission, and require both fissionable fuel and neutrons to cause fission in the fuel. There are only two naturally occurring elements that can provide fissionable materials, thorium and uranium. By far, the easiest thing to use as a source of neutrons is uranium-235, or 235U. This combination makes using uranium the easiest place to start with nuclear fission for power production.

Uranium and thorium can be transformed into other materials that can be used for nuclear fuel. The transformation of 232Th, the only naturally occurring isotope of thorium, produces 233U, and, in fact, this is how thorium would be used in any case. This fact means that no matter what the actual fuel is in a power plant, uranium is involved somehow.

Answer 4

Uranium is the ONLY naturally occurring element that will fission! A nuclear reactor operates on fission. Other fuels can be used, but they can only be produced in large enough quantity to be useful in a nuclear reactor. We do have plenty of Plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons to use it, but there are complicating political issues there.

Answer 5

Uranium-235 is a nuclear fuel; during the nuclear fission a huge energy is released, easy transformed in heat and electricity.
The energy released from uranium compared to the energy of fossil fuels is immense.

Answer 6

It is the only fissionable naturally occurring element, other fissionable elements have to be produced or breed in a reactor.

Answer 7

Uranium is used as nuclear fuel. The nuclear fission of uranium-235 release a huge amount of energy.