Uranium production and fuel manufacturing

Nuclear power plants use uranium as their fuel. But before uranium can be used in a nuclear reactor, it must go through a series of processing steps:

• mining and milling
• conversion
• enrichment
• fabrication.

These steps convert uranium from an ore to solid ceramic fuel pellets, about the size of the end of your finger. These pellets are loaded into fuel rods, which are grouped together into fuel assemblies or bundles, ready for insertion into the reactor.

Natural uranium contains two different forms, or isotopes—uranium-238 (U-238) and uranium-235 (U-235). U-235 is fissionable, which means its atoms can be split, releasing large amounts of heat. However, natural uranium consists of more than 99 percent U-238 and less than 1 percent U-235. For uranium to be used as a fuel, its U-235 content must be increased—or enriched—to 3-5 percent.

The United States imports about three-quarters of the uranium it uses, mainly from Canada, Australia and countries of the former Soviet Union. For information on U.S. uranium production, see the report Uranium Marketing Annual Report on the Energy Information Administration's Web site.

U.S. uranium fuel production is regulated at both the federal and state levels by a variety of agencies. Strict standards designed to protect public health and safety as well as the environment apply to all fuel production activities.

For more information see the web section, Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing and the World Nuclear Association's fact sheets under "Other Aspects of Fuel Cycle".

Nuclear Energy Institute—Washington, DC
August 2000