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CANDU reactors (Canadian) use non-enriched/naturally occurring uranium (0.72% u-235) by using heavy water as a moderator. Not sure why you'd use anything but th
by polski-g 5y ago
CANDU reactors (Canadian) use non-enriched/naturally occurring uranium (0.72% u-235) by using heavy water as a moderator. Not sure why you'd use anything but them if you were starting a nuclear program from scratch.
- Manuel_D 5y agoHeavy water reactors have their drawbacks. Heavy water is expensive, which offsets the cost of uranium enrichment. The lower energy density of un-enriched uranium means more frequent refueling. They also produce more waste.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- yohannparis 5y agoAnd this is why it was made in Canada, cheap electricity and uranium all around to make heavy water and fuel those reactors.
- hcknwscommenter 5y agoare industrial quantities of heavy water "made" or just extracted/isolated?
- yabones 5y agoYou still create the waste either way, either as depleted uranium or as spent fuel.
- coredog64 5y agoDepleted uranium means “uranium that is even less radioactive than naturally occurring uranium”. You don’t want to eat it, or atomize it and blast it out into the environment, but it’s actually a useful material. It’s sometimes used as a radiation shield for X-ray equipment.