Nuclear fuel cycle

The nuclear fuel cycle consists of front end steps that lead to the preparation of uranium for use as fuel for reactor operation and back end steps that are necessary to safely manage, prepare, and dispose of radioactive waste.

Related Topics:
Uranium - Radioactive waste

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A number of reactor designs (for example, the Integral Fast Reactor) would make possible a rather different fuel cycle. In principle, it should be possible to derive energy from the fission of any actinide nucleus. With a careful reactor design, all the actinides in the fuel can be consumed, leaving only lighter elements with short half-lives. No such reactor has ever been operated on a large scale.

Related Topics:
Integral Fast Reactor - Actinide

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Currently the only isotopes used as nuclear fuel are Uranium U235, Uranium U238 and Plutonium Pu239, although the proposed Thorium fuel cycle has advantages. Some modern reactors, with minor modifications, can use thorium, which is more plentiful than uranium.

Related Topics:
U²³⁵ - U²³⁸ - Pu²³⁹ - Thorium

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Heavy-water reactors and graphite-moderated reactors can use uranium as it is mined and refined, but the vast majority of the world's reactors require that the ratio of Uranium-235 (U235) to Uranium-238 (U238) be increased. In civilian reactors the enrichment is increased to as much as 5% U235 and 95% U238, but in naval reactors there is as much as 93% U235.

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The term nuclear fuel is not normally used for fusion power, which fuses isotopes of hydrogen into helium to release energy.

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