138 



THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 



URANIUM MINES 

 1 MILLS 



CONVERSION 



TO UF 6 



RECOVERED 

 URANIUM 



ENRICHING 



CONVERSION 

 TO FUEL 



REP10CESSIN6 



WASTE STORAGE - 



BY-PROMCTS 



J 



Figure 1 



tion of nuclear power. The entire sequence is called the nuclear fuel 

 cycle and is illustrated in Figure I. In summary, the major parts of 

 the nuclear fuel cycle are as follows : 



(1) Mining and milling of uranium ; 



(2) Refining of uranium and conversion to uranium hexafluo- 

 ride; 



(3) Enrichment of uranium ; 



(4) Conversion of enriched uranium into fuel material ; 



(5) Fabrication of fuel elements for the nuclear power re- 

 actors ; 



(6) Use of the fuel elements in working nuclear power plants; 



(7) Reprocessing of spent fuel to recover useful nuclear fuel 

 materials; and 



(8) Perpetual storage of intensely radioactive waste's from the 

 fission process. 



Fusion Power: an Expectation Yet to be Fulfilled 



In the fusion process, atoms of light elements, primarily hydrogen, 

 are fused together with a resultant release of energy. The uncon- 

 trolled fusion process is the basis for the hydrogen bomb which has 

 so revolutionized foreign relations and national security in the 20th 

 century. If a controlled fusion process could be achieved and demon- 

 strated to be technologically and economically feasible for generation 

 of elect licit v. the world would have a literally inexhaustible supply of 

 energy. It is for this reason that the United States, the Soviet Union, 

 and many other countries are engaged in fusion, or "controlled ther- 

 monuclear," research. 



As ;in environmental benefit, fusion would not produce the enormous 

 amounts of radioactive wastes characteristic of lission, and could offer 



