How is highly enriched uranium made?
Traditionally, uranium has been extracted from underground and open pit mines. This natural uranium is processed and then enriched. Numerous technologies have been developed to enrich uranium, such as gaseous-diffusion, centrifuges, and electromagnetic separation. All of these technologies require a large initial investment and large amounts of energy to operate. What is HEU used for? HEU was first developed for use in nuclear weapons. It can be combined with plutonium to form the “pit”, or core of a nuclear weapon, or it can be used alone as the nuclear explosive. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima used only HEU. About 15-20 kgs of HEU are sufficient to make a bomb without plutonium. HEU also has non-weapon uses. It is used as a fuel in research reactors and the nuclear reactors that power some naval vessels. About 2300 metric tons of HEU have been produced for military purposes worldwide — primarily by the United States and the Soviet Union. About 20 metric tons of HEU have been used in
