What are the different kinds of uranium and thorium available?
Important uranium isotopes are U-235, U-238 and U-233. Naturally occurring uranium contains 0.71% U-235 and the rest is mainly U-238. In uranium enrichment plants, special processes are used to increase the U-235 content in uranium, and the product is called enriched uranium. А by-product from enrichment plants is а material with lesser content of U-235 and greater content of U-238, called depleted uranium. U-233 does not occur in nature and is created when thorium is irradiated in nuclear reactors so as to absorb neutrons and transmute into U-233. Thorium occurs as the single isotope Th-232 in nature.
