Why Russia is buying up German depleted uranium
A week earlier, pickets of "environmentalists" were held in Germany itself. It is worth recalling that 10 years ago a similar situation led to the termination of the deal to import German "nuclear tails" into Russia.
But why did Rosatom resume “radioactive cooperation”? And is it really dangerous? For the answer we turn to physics.
The thing is that our country does not import completely waste into its territory. The raw material for the production of nuclear fuel is uranium ore, which is mined in mines. The latter contains the isotope U-235, from which subsequently fuel is produced for nuclear power plants.
However, the coefficient of isotope content in ore is too low (0,7%). The solution to the problem was the enrichment of uranium, a by-product of which is depleted uranium, which is considered waste. But, despite the "status" of the substance, it also contains U-235 in small quantities.
Our country has Technologywhich are capable of extracting quite a lot of valuable isotope from depleted uranium. In fact, this substance is “waste” only for Europe, due to its technological illiteracy.
As a result, it becomes clear that Russia does not accept waste from Germany, but valuable raw materials for processing. At the same time, we send back “enriched” uranium, for which we receive income.
After the aforementioned processing, we still have depleted uranium, which no one will be able to enrich. At the same time, it does not pose a radiation hazard, but contains fluorine, which can pollute the environment. Activists "press" on it.
However, not everyone knows that we do not bury this substance in the ground. It is stored in special metal containers and now in Russia there are more than 1 million tons of such waste.
Similarly, depleted uranium is stored in other countries with developed nuclear energy. And most importantly, no one except Russia knows what to do with it.
The main “trump card” of our country is the “Breakthrough” project, which has been working on since 2011. It involves the creation of new nuclear technologies based on a closed nuclear fuel cycle using fast neutron reactors. The successful implementation of an ambitious project will open a new era for humanity, since all the accumulated nuclear waste can be used to generate energy.
According to preliminary estimates, the aforementioned “reserves” will be enough to provide the entire planet with electricity for the next 3000 years. At the same time, only Russia will have revolutionary technology. Actually, like a significant part of the accumulated waste.
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