Enriched uranium

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/enriched-uranium

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the low-enriched uranium (LEU) concentration?Below 20% uranium-235, primarily used for light water reactors
2. What is the highly enriched uranium (HEU) concentration?Above 20% uranium-235, used for nuclear weapons and compact reactors
3. What is enriched uranium and why is it special?Enriched uranium has a higher amount of the isotope uranium‑235, which can split when hit by a slow neutron and release a lot of energy. This makes it useful for power plants and other applications.
4. How do scientists make uranium enriched?They use methods like gaseous diffusion or gas centrifugation. In both cases, the lighter uranium‑235 molecules move or stay closer to the center, while the heavier uranium‑238 molecules are pushed away, separating the two.

Isotope Separation: Processes used to increase the concentration of a specific isotope within an element.
Fissile Material: Material that can sustain a nuclear chain reaction when struck by neutrons.
Chain Reaction: A self-sustaining series of nuclear fissions, releasing energy.
Gaseous Diffusion: An enrichment method using porous barriers to separate isotopes based on mass.