How much plutonium does a nuclear reactor use?
Uranium and plutonium resource basics For all practical purposes, uranium-235 is the only naturally-occurring fissile material (one that can sustain a chain reaction and can fuel nuclear reactors). However, uranium-235 makes up only about 0.7 percent of natural uranium ore.
Is plutonium still used in nuclear reactors?
Currently, the U.S. does not use plutonium fuel in its power reactors. Nuclear reactors that produce commercial power in the United States today create plutonium through the irradiation of uranium fuel. They might become different plutonium isotopes or different elements, such as uranium or neptunium.
How much uranium is in a nuclear reactor?
A typical reactor may contain about 100 tonnes of enriched uranium (i.e., about 113 tonnes of uranium dioxide). This fuel is loaded within, for example, 157 fuel assemblies composed of over 45,000 fuel rods.
Are there any plutonium reactors?
Fast-neutron reactors, of which there are a handful operating today with a half dozen under construction, can use reactor-grade plutonium fuel as a means to reduce the transuranium content of spent nuclear fuel/nuclear waste. …
Why is plutonium better than uranium?
Plutonium-239, the isotope found in the spent MOX fuel, is much more radioactive than the depleted Uranium-238 in the fuel. Plutonium emits alpha radiation, a highly ionizing form of radiation, rather than beta or gamma radiation.
What is reactor-grade plutonium?
Reactor-grade plutonium (RGPu) is the isotopic grade of plutonium that is found in spent nuclear fuel after the uranium-235 primary fuel that a nuclear power reactor uses has burnt up.
How much nuclear energy is produced from one kg plutonium?
In a conventional nuclear reactor, one kilogram of Pu-239 can produce sufficient heat to generate nearly 8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Plutonium is formed in nuclear power reactors from uranium-238 by neutron capture.
Where do nuclear weapons get their plutonium from?
Most weapons programs have obtained their plutonium from graphite-moderated reactors; the U.S. program used both graphite-moderated reactors (at Hanford in Washington) and heavy water moderated reactors (at Savannah River in South Carolina).
How much plutonium does a 1-gwe LWR produce?
Thus, each year of normal operation of a 1-GWe LWR produces enough plutonium for 30 or more small nuclear bombs. For reliable weapons, it is desirable to have a low 240Pu fraction (i.e., weapons-grade plutonium). In principle, this could be accomplished by iso-topic enrichment of plutonium that has been chemically extracted from the spent fuel.