answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

The reactor is usually initially fueled with uranium (for water moderated reactors this is enriched to 3% uranium-235, but other designs may be enriched more or less than that). A few reactors (e.g. reactors in France) are initially fueled with plutonium or a mixture of both uranium and plutonium.

After a reactor has operated for a period of time significant levels of transuranic elements have built up in the reactor core, these will also fission and the reactor uses them also as fuel (but unless it is a fast breeder reactor it neither produces nor burns these transuranic fuels very efficiently.

Note: a fast breeder reactor contains no moderator to slow neutrons and therefor if fueled with uranium usually requires it to be enriched to 93.5% uranium-235, commonly referred to as weapons grade uranium). The advantage of a fast breeder is that it efficiently converts the normally unusable uranium-238 to plutonium and other transuranics. The plutonium it produces would have far too much plutonium-240 and plutonium-241 in it (due to long fuel burn cycles) for use in weapons and could be used to fuel nuclear reactors of other types. It is also able to efficiently burn all the transuranics it produces, meaning the waste it produces would contain little more than the fission products which all have short halflives; therefor this waste would only have to be stored a few hundred years (not the tens of thousands of years that the wastes of current reactors must be stored, because they still contain unburned plutonium and other transuranics).

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

AnswerBot

5mo ago

Uranium is the primary nuclear material used in nuclear power plants. It undergoes fission reactions to produce heat, which is then converted into electricity.

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: What Nuclear material is used in nuclear power plant?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Related questions

Existing nuclear power plant?

what is the existing of nuclear power plant?


What is the positive of nuclear power plant?

what is negative of the nuclear power plant


What kind of fallout will we see from a nuclear power plant?

Nuclear Fallout comes from a nuclear power plant.


Is a nuclear power plant same as nuclear power station?

Yes, it generally is but a nuclear plant could refer to nuclear reactors which are basically the things that produce the power. So in essence, yes, a nuclear plant is the same thing as a nuclear power station


Where is the Nuclear Fission Power plant in Alaska?

There is no nuclear power plant in Alaska.


Where is the method of producing electricity from a nuclear power plant used?

In a nuclear power plant


What is the name of the nuclear power plant that expoded in 1986?

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.


What is the function of a nuclear reactor of a nuclear plant?

simply, the nuclear reactor is the source of heat (or steam) for the nuclear power plant.


What kind of nuclear plant was Chernobyl?

Chernobyl was a Nuclear Power Plant.


When was Taishan Nuclear Power Plant created?

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant was created in 2013.


When was Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant created?

Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant was created in 1966.


When was Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant created?

Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant was created in 2013.