Uranium Ore

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Uranium Ore

Uranium can also be used to make coloured glass that glow under UV light and it's glass form is the perfect colour for dentures. More importantly, Uranium is used in power plants. 1 KG of U-235 can produce 80 TJ of energy which is enough energy to drive your car as you normally do for 1000 years. U-235 in power plants are only 3% enriched (i.e. there is only 3% U-235 in the rod) which is small compared to 90% needed in nuclear weapons. A nuclear bomb uses 7-13 KG of U-235 which is a lot of concentrated energy. A thermonuclear bomb is just like a nuclear (fission) bomb but with a cylinder of hydrogen that gets compressed by the Uranium explosion. This compression causes the hydrogen to undergo fusion reaction. Before Uranium can be used in a nuclear reaction though, it must first be refined. The modern refining methods require centrifuges that push the heavier U-238 to the edges of and the lighter U-235 to stay in the middle. It costs a lot of money to build and maintain these centrifuges which is why nuclear power is mainly limited to wealthier countries.