Nuclear power is criticized in both positive and negative aspects. Nuclear power plants use uranium-235 isotope as fuel which is 8000 times more efficient energy source than coal or gas. Uranium is smaller than a finger. One pallet has the energy of 17,000 cubic feet of gas or 805 kg of coal. Compared to that, uranium is not so scarce in nature. Uranium is 40 times more readily available than silver, but the problem is that uranium cannot be mined and used directly. In order to use it, several complex chemical processes have to be carefully applied to make uranium suitable for use in nuclear power plants. We will try to find out how uranium is made suitable for nuclear power plants.
After extracting the ore from the mine, it is first crushed and then burnt. As a result, carbon-dioxide accumulated in uranium is removed. Then sulfuric acid is added. Sulfur in uranium sulfuric acid combines with oxygen to form uranium oxide liquid. Ammonia is then added to the liquid. The result is uranium cake. Uranium yellow cake is not very radioactive. Cosmic rays that are emitted when commercial planes fly. This yellow cake radiation emits less radiation in nature than this emitted ray. For example, the amount of radiation within one meter of uranium yellow cake is less than the emitted radiation.
This uranium yellow cake needs further purification for use in nuclear power plants. Yellow cake contains 99.7% uranium-238 and only 0.7% uranium-235. Which is much less for use in nuclear power plants. Because uranium-235 is the fuel used in nuclear power plants. For this, it is necessary to change from uranium-238 to uranium-235. Just then comes the centrifuge.
When uranium is used in a centrifuge, it becomes highly radioactive and dangerous, even causing death. The result is applied very carefully centrifuge. Fluorine is added to uranium yellow cake. The result is uranium hexafluoride gas. It is then ready to go to the centrifuge.
A centrifuge is a large rotating container that separates lighter substances from heavier substances. An example is the separation of plasma from blood. Uranium hexafluoride gas is placed in a centrifuge machine and then it is spun at high speed. And this causes uranium-238 to move away. And the relatively light uranium-235 is toward the center. One thing here is that the difference in mass between Uranium-238 and Uranium-235 is only 1%. As a result, uranium is centrifuged thousands of times.
Thus uranium is centrifuged when the amount of uranium-235 is 5% and the amount of uranium-238 is 95%. Then it is used in some nuclear power plants. However, in most nuclear power plants, the amount of uranium-235 is at least 20% and the amount of uranium-238 is kept at 80%. Uranium hexafluoride gas is centrifuged when the amount of uranium reaches the desired level. The rest of the uranium hexafluoride gas is then combined with calcium to turn it into a solid.
We know that fluorine combines with calcium to form salts. And the rest is uranium oxide. This uranium oxide is heated to 1400 degrees. And they are turned into small ceramic pellets. These pellets are then placed in the pipe. It is called uranium rod. Uranium bundles are made up of several rod miles like this. The uranium produced in this way becomes usable for use in nuclear power plants.