What Is URANIUM?

Discovered in 1789 by Martin Klapoth and named after the planet Uranus, uranium is a heavy metal found in the earth's crust and is about as plentiful as tin.  It differs from fossil fuels which are combined with oxygen in burning to produce heat. Uranium atoms can be made to split, or fission, to release an abundant amount of concentrated energy in the form of heat.  The heat is harnessed to produce steam and generate electricity. One kilogram of Uranium generates the same amount of heat as 20 tons of coal. Natural uranium contains primarily two isotopes (Isotope being atoms with the same number of protons, but different number of neutrons) U-238, which is the most abundant, is 99.3% of the ore. By comparison U-235 is only .7% of natural uranium.  The U-235 atom in certain situations can be easily split to yield a tremendous amount of energy.  It is said to be "fissile" and is where we get the term "nuclear fission."

Energy from Uranium occurs when the nucleus of a U-235 atom captures a moving neutron from another U-235 atom and splits in two. When this happens there is a release of energy in the form of heat. During this fission or splitting, 2 or 3 neutrons are thrown off, and if these expelled neutrons are caught by other U-235 atoms they fission or split, which causes more neutrons to be expelled. When this happens again and again a "chain reaction" begins.  This chain reaction can generate a tremendous amount of heat from a very small amount of uranium without giving off any greenhouse gases.

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