Research reactor in the context of "Enriched uranium"

A nuclear reactor is a device used to sustain a controlled fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for commercial electricity, marine propulsion, weapons production and research. Fissile nuclei (primarily uranium-235 or plutonium-239) absorb single neutrons and split, releasing energy and multiple neutrons, which can induce further fission. Reactors stabilize this, regulating neutron absorbers and moderators in the core. Fuel efficiency is exceptionally high; low-enriched uranium is 120,000 times more energy-dense than coal.

Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid coolant. In commercial reactors, this drives turbines and electrical generator shafts. Some reactors are used for district heating, and isotope production for medical and industrial use.

Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the earth. Almost 50,000 tons of uranium were produced in 2022. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Namibia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account for 69% of world production. Other countries producing more than 1,000 tons per year included Australia, Niger, Russia, Uzbekistan and China. Nearly all of the world's mined uranium is used to power nuclear power plants. Historically uranium was also used in applications such as uranium glass or ferrouranium but those applications have declined due to the radioactivity and toxicity of uranium and are nowadays mostly supplied with a plentiful cheap supply of depleted uranium which is also used in uranium ammunition. In addition to being cheaper, depleted uranium is also less radioactive due to a lower content of short-lived
U and
U than natural uranium.

Uranium is mined by in-situ leaching (57% of world production) or by conventional underground or open-pit mining of ores (43% of production). During in-situ mining, a leaching solution is pumped down drill holes into the uranium ore deposit where it dissolves the ore minerals. The uranium-rich fluid is then pumped back to the surface and processed to extract the uranium compounds from solution. In conventional mining, ores are processed by grinding the ore materials to a uniform particle size and then treating the ore to extract the uranium by chemical leaching. The milling process commonly yields dry powder-form material consisting of natural uranium, "yellowcake", which is nowadays commonly sold on the uranium market as U₃O₈. While some nuclear power plants – most notably heavy water reactors like the CANDU – can operate with natural uranium (usually in the form of uranium dioxide), the vast majority of commercial nuclear power plants and many research reactors require uranium enrichment, which raises the content of
U from the natural 0.72% to 3–5% (for use in light water reactors) or even higher, depending on the application. Enrichment requires conversion of the yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride and production of the fuel (again usually uranium dioxide, but sometimes uranium carbide, uranium hydride or uranium nitride) from that feedstock.

Nuclear fuel refers to any substance, typically fissile material, which is used by nuclear power stations or other nuclear devices to generate energy.

In accelerator physics, a beamline refers to the trajectory of the beam of particles, including the overall construction of the path segment (guide tubes, diagnostic devices) along a specific path of an accelerator facility. This part is either

• the line in a linear accelerator along which a beam of particles travels, or
• the path leading from particle generator (e.g. a cyclic accelerator, synchrotron light sources, cyclotrons, or spallation sources) to the experimental end-station.

Beamlines usually end in experimental stations that utilize particle beams or synchrotron light obtained from a synchrotron, or neutrons from a spallation source or research reactor. Beamlines are used in experiments in particle physics, materials science, life science, chemistry, and molecular biology, but can also be used for irradiation tests or to produce isotopes.