highly-enriched uranium

English

Some highly-enriched uranium. The higher the enrichment and the bigger the mass of uranium, the greater the risk of a criticality accident.

Noun

highly-enriched uranium (uncountable)

1. (nuclear physics, military) Enriched uranium containing at least 20% uranium-235 (some applications, such as fission weapons and naval reactors, use uranium enriched to as high as 80-95% uranium-235), and therefore capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction without needing a moderator; used in nuclear weapons and in a few types of nuclear reactors requiring very high power density or high neutron flux.

Synonyms

• HEU
• weapons-grade uranium

Coordinate terms

• depleted uranium
• natural uranium
• slightly-enriched uranium
• low-enriched uranium