[NohSpinZone]

I've been listening to a college chemistry course on Audible and one of the chapters was on the process for uranium enrichment. I was blown away to learn that nuclear fuel rods are only enriched to be around 5% U-235 whereas weapons-grade uranium is around 90% U-235. In nature, U-235 is a rare isotope compared to the far more common U-238 and U-235 is more desired because it's more fissile than U-238.

Fascinating process in general, using gas diffusion laws or centrifugal force to separate U-235 UF₆ molecules from U-238 variants, aka enrichment.

[RightOnTheBorder]

That small percentage enrichment is why spent fuel can be reconditioned and re-used so as to create less waste. Flip side is the more you do it the closer you get to weapons grade. I think that is why we just dump spent rods in a hole in New Mexico.

[6ppc]

Read “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” by Richard Rhodes. It won Pulitzer and is on my Top 10 list. I’ve read it 4 times. Pick up something I missed every time.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My uncle left mechanical engineering school in 1942, enlisted in the Army, and they sent him to Oak Ridge where he was responsible for one of the enrichment lines. He said he had to manage the farm boys from Tennessee who ran the equipment. He was the grand old college educated man at age 22. After that, he and his new bride moved to Los Alamos where he worked on nuclear weapons. He didn’t like building weapons and went back to school to become a doctor and dentist.