Nuclear Fuel Enrichment
The process of increasing the proportion of a fissile isotope above its natural abundance.
Unit
Dimensionless
In depth
Natural uranium contains only 0.7% uranium-235, too little for most reactor designs. Enrichment to 3–5% is achieved by gas centrifuge separation of uranium hexafluoride, exploiting the tiny mass difference between isotopes over thousands of stages.
Examples in the real world
Cascades of centrifuges producing reactor-grade fuel; the same technology raises proliferation concerns at higher enrichments.