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Abbreviations
- Cross section:
-
Probability of neutron interaction with a nucleus, expressed in terms of area, in units of barns (b). One barn equals 1.0 × 10−24 cm2.
- Enrichment:
-
The fraction of an isotope, usually fissile 235U, in a mass of uranium. Enrichment is commonly quoted as the weight percent of the particular isotope. Natural uranium has an enrichment of 0.711 wt%, commercial reactor fuel is 3–5% enriched, and depleted uranium is 0.2–0.3% 235U.
- Enrichment tails (also depleted uranium):
-
The uranium remaining after the enrichment of natural uranium into fuel, today about 0.3% 235U, earlier 0.2–0.25% 235U.
- Fractionation:
-
Crystallization from a magma in which the initial crystals are prevented from equilibrating from the parent liquid, resulting in a series of residual liquids of more extreme composition than would have resulted from continuous reaction [1].
- Highly enriched uranium (HEU):
-
Uranium containing more that 20 wt% 235U.
- Jth :
-
Joule (i.e., Watt-second) thermal. One British thermal unit (BTU) equals 1,055 Jth.
- Log-normal distribution:
-
Distribution of the form \( f(x) = {e^{{ - {{\left( {\ln \,x} \right)}^2}}}} \). In the present usage, the tonnage of an element available at concentration c, T(c), is given by \( T(c) = {C_1}\,{e^{{ - {{(\ln \,{c_o} - \ln \,c)}^2}}}} \), where c o is the average crustal abundance and C 1 is a constant.
- Low-enriched uranium (LEU):
-
Uranium containing less than 20 wt% 235U.
- Mafic:
-
Composed chiefly of dark ferromagnesian minerals.
- MOX:
-
Mixed oxide fuel, usually consisting of a ceramic mixture of uranium dioxide and plutonium dioxide.
- MSWU:
-
Mega-separative work unit, a million separative work units. A separative work unit is the separative work that must be done to one kilogram of a mixture of isotopes to change its separation potential by one unit. The separation potential, a dimensionless function, is defined by \( \phi \,\,\,({x_k}) = (2{x_k} - 1)\ln \tfrac{{{x_k}}}{{1 - {x_k}}} \), where x k is the atomic fraction of the isotope, k. See Benedict 1981, p. 667 for a more complete definition [2].
- Pegmatite:
-
An exceptionally coarse-grained igneous rock, with interlocking crystals, often found at the margins of batholiths.
- Placer:
-
A mineral deposit at the surface formed by sedimentary concentration of heavy mineral particles from weathered debris.
- Quad:
-
Quadrillion (i.e., 1015, also written 1E15) British thermal units. One quad = 1.055 × 1018 Jth.
- t:
-
Metric ton, also used in Mt, million metric tons, and Tt, trillion metric tons (teratons).
- Unconformity:
-
A break or gap in the geologic record, such as an interruption in the normal sequence of deposition of sedimentary rocks, or a break between eroded metamorphic rocks and younger sedimentary strata [1].
- Yellowcake:
-
A concentrate of uranium ore, containing 80–90% U3O8. Yellowcake ranges from yellow to black, depending on impurities, processing temperature, and degree of hydration [3]. Although uranium prices are sometimes colloquially cited as “dollars per pound of yellowcake,” the actual prices are $ per lb of U3O8, where all of the uranium is assumed to be present in the yellowcake as that oxide.
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Herring, J.S. (2012). Uranium and Thorium Resources . In: Meyers, R.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3_21
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