MOX fuel

Mixed oxide fuel (MOX fuel) is <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fuel/8RhAomlJ">nuclear fuel</a> that contains more than one <a href="/facts/Oxide/DXtoVe1C">oxide</a> of <a href="/facts/Fissile_material/XJR9qoxW">fissile material</a>, usually consisting of <a href="/facts/Plutonium/4bUw9zH3">plutonium</a> blended with <a href="/facts/Natural_uranium/lgFulQYb">natural uranium</a>, <a href="/facts/Reprocessed_uranium/xNEHPzNQ">reprocessed uranium</a>, or <a href="/facts/Depleted_uranium/oKGvpUlW">depleted uranium</a>. MOX fuel is an alternative to the <a href="/facts/Low-enriched_uranium/vSb2Tcsb">low-enriched uranium</a> fuel used in the <a href="/facts/Light-water_reactor/c330w1Wt">light-water reactors</a> that predominate <a href="/facts/Nuclear_power/jzSyvxSn">nuclear power</a> generation.
For example, a mixture of 7% plutonium and 93% natural uranium reacts similarly, although not identically, to low-enriched uranium fuel (3 to 5% uranium-235). MOX usually consists of two phases, UO2 and PuO2, and/or a single phase solid solution (U,Pu)O2. The content of PuO2 may vary from 1.5 wt.% to 25–30 wt.% depending on the type of nuclear reactor.
One attraction of MOX fuel is that it is a way of utilizing surplus <a href="/facts/Weapons-grade_nuclear_material/o2S0c30F">weapons-grade</a> plutonium, an alternative to storage of surplus plutonium, which would need to be secured against the risk of theft for use in <a href="/facts/Nuclear_weapon/QVdBcMdm">nuclear weapons</a>. On the other hand, some studies warned that normalizing the global commercial use of MOX fuel and the associated expansion of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_reprocessing/aTMUoYaW">nuclear reprocessing</a> would increase, rather than reduce, the risk of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_proliferation/f8dSJyAR">nuclear proliferation</a>, by encouraging increased separation of plutonium from spent fuel in the civil <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fuel_cycle/flBannfd">nuclear fuel cycle</a>.

MOX fuel open-in-new

MOX fuel