Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi Saturday inaugurated a new uranium dioxide unit in Central Iran.
The unit, which was inaugurated by Salehi in a ceremony in Isfahan Fuel Complex today, is to produce enriched uranium dioxide (UO2) with less than five percent purity.
In April 2011, Iran launched its first UO2 production unit on the occasion of the country’s 'National Day of Nuclear Technology'.
UO2, also known as urania or uranous oxide, is an oxide of uranium, and is a black, radioactive, crystalline powder that naturally occurs in the mineral uraninite. It is used in nuclear fuel rods in nuclear reactors.
UO2 is used mainly as nuclear fuel, specifically as UO2 or as a mixture of UO2 and PuO2 (plutonium dioxide) called a mixed oxide (MOX fuel) for fuel rods in nuclear reactors.
Uranium dioxide is produced by reducing uranium trioxide with hydrogen.
This reaction plays an important part in the creation of nuclear fuel through nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment.