What is SEU and how does it relate to advanced fuel cycles?
Natural uranium has a U-235 content of only 0.7 percent. By contrast, SEU Slightly Enriched Uranium has a U-235 content between 0.9 and 2.5 percent1. Cameco wants to import enriched uranium with an even higher concentration of U-235 from 3 to 5 percent and blend it with natural uranium to produce large quantities of SEU. Cameco says it needs to produce SEU because Bruce Power plans to run its nuclear reactors on SEU fuel. But Cameco is also a major shareholder in Bruce Power. Thus Cameco (at Port Hope) has to produce SEU because Cameco (at Bruce) wants to use it as a fuel. This is strange since all existing CANDU reactors were designed to use natural uranium as a fuel. In particular, the Bruce reactors have always used natural uranium, and there is absolutely no need for SEU to keep those reactors running. So what is going on? The answer is contained in three words: Advanced Fuel Cycles. The CANDU industry is turning its back on natural uranium in favour of new nuclear fuels for the fu
