What role does depleted uranium play in the nuclear fuel cycle?
Depleted uranium is produced in the uranium enrichment process when uranium‑235 (U235) is extracted from natural uranium to concentrate this isotope into fuel for nuclear reactors. For the types of nuclear power plants operating in the United States, uranium needs to be enriched. Natural uranium primarily contains two isotopes, uranium-238 (U238) (99.3 percent) and U235 (0.7 percent). The concentration of U235, the readily fissionable isotope in uranium, needs to be increased to between 3 and 5 percent for practical use as a nuclear fuel. Enrichment plants use various means to concentrate the U235, including gaseous diffusion, gas centrifuge, or laser separation enrichment. The U235 is increased in a portion of material by decreasing the U235 in the remainder of the material. For example, if an enrichment facility processes 1,000 kilograms (kg) of natural uranium to raise the U235 concentration from 0.7 percent to 5 percent, the facility would produce 85 kg of enriched uranium and 915
