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HEU can be blended down with uranium containing low levels of U-235 to produce low-enriched uranium (LEU), less than 5% U-235, fuel for power reactors.

The main weapons material is highly enriched uranium (HEU), containing at least 20% uranium-235 (U-235) and usually about 90% U-235. A 1993 agreement covered essentially the enrichment component of this material, but left unresolved the question of feed from mines, and a 1999 agreement dealt with what happened to the feed material. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a unique opportunity arose to deploy military weapons material for making electricity. Nuclear materials declared surplus to military requirements by the USA and Russia have been converted into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Since 1987 the United States and countries of the former USSR have signed a series of disarmament treaties to reduce the nuclear arsenals by about 80%. This gave way to a focus on the role of military uranium as a major source of fuel for commercial nuclear power.

Highly-enriched uranium from weapons stockpiles has been displacing some 8850 tonnes of U 3O 8 production from mines each year, and met about 13% to 19% of world reactor requirements through to 2013.įor more than five decades, concern has centred on the possibility that uranium intended for commercial nuclear power might be diverted for use in weapons.

Weapons-grade plutonium has over 93% Pu-239 and can be used, like reactor-grade plutonium, in fuel for electricity production.

Weapons-grade uranium is highly enriched, to over 90% U-235 (the fissile isotope).

Weapons-grade uranium and plutonium surplus to military requirements in the USA and Russia is being made available for use as civil fuel.

Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel