Enriching Uranium Understanding
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- Опубликовано: 10 апр 2025
- One in 20 American homes are powered by Russian enriched uranium because the USA lacks sufficient enrichment capacity to meet its own needs. Energy and fuel security are supposed to be a strong point of the technology but the US nuclear industry faces further reputational risk because no-one is taking responsibility and adequately planning adequate solutions despite NRC licenses being in place. James Krellenstein returns to take our proverbial hands and walk us through the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Enjoy!
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This was such a fantastic watch. Love this content, learned so much. Thank you both!
Great podcast. A diagram of the fuel cycle would really have assisted during the explanation.
Fun fact: Not only did the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant at Oak Ridge use a stupendous amount of energy, but it was also the largest building in the world, with over 5¼ million square feet of floor space 😮
Good that you mention that the current Laser Isotopic Separation technologies, SILEX and CRISLA utilize UF6 and not Uranium metal as AVLIS did. Plus one problem with AVLIS was that the enriched U235 platted out on the walls making product recovery difficult
Can you go into more detail about Silex/GLE in the next one?
This guy rules. I learned so much today. Thanks dude
CORRECTION: Canada does NOT have the worlds largest reserves - Australia does. Historically Canada is the largest producer.
FYI - I have worked in Australia's Uranium industry. I have left a longer comment if you're interested.
learned what?
@@vsstdtbs3705 How about the fact that America needs Russia to supply it with fuel for its reactors?
And that despite all the sanctions on Russia enriched Uranium fuel is NOT on any of the restricted or the banned lists.
That's not widely known.
@@tonywilson4713 That is fine, but should have been said by Brandon.
YT is full of benign comments like, "I learned from that."
Probably not the best episode to listen to while drunk and midnight cooking.
So you've got yourself a second view, lmao
But seriously, this guy KNOWS HIS STUFF! Awesome to listen to, such an information-dense podcast!
Go Go GOCO‼️
Tom Neff at MIT originally described the downblending programfor the Megatons to Megawatts of Russian HEU
Hey ! You said you would leave links to the “report” and the “NY Times article” !
Yet another information packed class. I absolutely LOVE his “goes like” analysis and presentation that makes it so digestible. BRAVO !!!
CORRECTION: Canada does NOT have the worlds largest reserves - Australia does. Historically Canada is the largest producer.
FYI - I have worked in Australia's Uranium industry. I have left a longer comment if you're interested.
Another great episode. The following numbers may be of interest:
Enrichment SWU/kg of Fuel
4% 6.25
5% 8.85
20% 45
90% 227
Love this podcast, keep it up!
STOP VOTING FOR 90 YEAR OLDS. We need some visionary, no, just some like normal people who hear these things and says "Wait we're what? They buried them where?! Who's supplying our Uranium? No. We're ACTUALLY going to build some gas centrifuge plants"
Once they hear what could happen to over 10% of United States Electricity.
Excellent discussion
I thought rocket scientist were smart. You guys blow them away . Thank you for bring this to us. So interesting. The math,the chemistry, So many different groups of engineering needed to make this all work. I am beginning to understand why nuclear energy is such slow moving process.
I find it funny that there are so many choices. People all have.their different opinions on how to achieve a goal or outcome. It's kind of like a custom home builder working with two people. They can never decide on what to do. To your point just do it.
Ironically, ORNL, for all its nuclear activity, has been powered by coal throughout its entire existence.
And the old question: where is the radioactive waste disposal site? Have its cost and energy demand been factored in?
If we were opposed to nuclear power, hobbling the fuel supply would be a great accomplishment.
The string of failures by us to stay focused on completing the centrifuge program is so frustrating. I’ve watched the video twice now and i got more mad the second time 😅 They got shiny object syndrome like a cat following the laser pointer. Almost literally what happened
Wait until you learn about the Zumwalt destroyer fiasco.
In other words, the lights are gonna go out at some point. Prepare accordingly.
Nat gas for now, if it can stay flowing. If
Great discussion, very informative .. how about a discussion on using light water depleted uranium (enriched uranium waste) in a heavy water Candu reactor .. modifications to the Candu to run the waste and other requirements
What would the light water be for?
@@SubvertTheState light water reactor
I’m gonna play the segment on my radio show next week!
don't enriching uranium at home😀
CORRECTION: Canada does NOT have the worlds largest reserves - Australia does. Historically Canada is the largest producer.
FYI - I have worked in Australia's Uranium industry. I have left a longer comment if you're interested.
Wow. A perspective and blueprint to solve the problem and make us independent from Russian enriched uranium fuel
Not much on Candu. CANDU uses natural uranium and does not need uranium enrichment because of the efficiency of heavy water
We have tons of plutonium that would work in its place…we’ve just called it high level waste and buried it in the ground 🧐
Mallinckrodt St. Louis enriched uranium for the Manhattan Project.
US government. Let’s throw away a $7 billion gas centrifuge plant and build a cool laser isotope refining project! 😂 I’m crying as a taxpayer.
Thanks.
Time for thorium!
Nah. Just breeders and then use plutonium.
Could you transmute the uranium 238 to plutonium with neutrons and separate chemically at a commercial profit? Or do it with thorium too? (only at 52 minutes at his point, back tomorrow)
Not profitable. France does it to its spent fuel, but out of principle (and Japan pays France to do the same with Japan's spent fuel). See the 2001 book: *_Megawatts and Megatons_* by Richard L. Garwin and Georges Charpak.
Not without pissing off the NNSA 😅
CORRECTION: Canada does NOT have the worlds largest reserves - Australia does. Historically Canada is the largest producer.
FYI - I have worked in Australia's Uranium industry. I have left a longer comment if you're interested.
As too your specific question on transmuting go look at the Wikipedia page on CANDU to see how it does what it does.
FYI - all nuclear reactors are effectively transmutation systems.
In fast breeder reactor you can.
I read someplace that there's a new idea for enrichment, using lasers. Any work on this? Oh okay, you do cover it.
The guys was flapping his arms too much, thought he was trying to fly.
They buried how many centrifuges in the desert?
Really?
CORRECTION: Canada does NOT have the worlds largest reserves - Australia does. Historically Canada is the largest producer.
FYI - I have worked in Australia's Uranium industry. I have left a longer comment if you're interested.
Damages due to Navajo for mining uranium haven't been paid yet .
Government Cheese! Yum
Ahm...
Um.uhhhhm....never heard a doctor say "um'" so much!
Good program, but it fails to explain how reactor fuel can be so cheap when enrichment is so difficult and costly.
Because a power plant needs so little of it and the next generation of reactors will need even less.
Where was a link to the report?
CORRECTION: Canada does NOT have the worlds largest reserves - Australia does. Historically Canada is the largest producer.
FYI - I have worked in Australia's Uranium industry. I have left a longer comment if you're interested.
How does uranium contamination harm fetuses?
But i thought it was a thing in defense also. Hummm
This is reason for delay in Terrapower plant Kemmerer, Wy. Unbelievable! Chasinglower costs and higher profit. Stupid.
In my head I figured this was part of the complex. Figures nope
More than 20 billion, so far
Mining of uranium requires body protection ask the Navajo.
Iran thanks you 😂
Most of the problems in this video would be curtailed by using a molten salt reactor so as to use all the stupid waste from pressurized water reactors. PLENTY OF FUEL.
You'd need to replace all 94 solid fuel reactors in the country first. Just rebuilding a centrifuge would be so much cheaper. We can also build molten salt reactors in addition to that.
It's pronounced "zippy", not "zip".
Both of you were wrong. His name was Gernot Zippe. German "z" is pronounced as English hard "ts". The "e" at the end of his name is a short and weak e, and it's close to "a" in the English word "back".
CORRECTION: Canada does NOT have the worlds largest reserves - Australia does. Historically Canada is the largest producer.
FYI - I have worked in Australia's Uranium industry. I have left a longer comment if you're interested.
I guess I need to correct all of those German and Dutch guys I was working with at Urenco. Their going to love your comment.@@vegyesz89
Why are women scientist for nuclear on this video?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣