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MOX fuel facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Brennelement-Kernkraftwerk
Nuclear fuel, the enlargement on the left shows the so called pellets. Original size of the module is about 4.5m in length.

Mixed-oxide fuel (or MOX fuel) is nuclear fuel that contains an oxide of more than one element. Most nuclear fuel that is not of the MOX type only contains uranium dioxide. In most cases, the additional oxide will be plutonium dioxide, sometimes thorium dioxide. Any reactor that uses uranium-based fuel will produce plutonium dioxide. Mox fuel consists of about 93% uranium, and about 7% of thorium or plutonium dioxide.

One of the benefits of using MOX-type fuel is that the plutonium dioxide that is produced, can be re-used for energy generation. Certain types of nuclear power plants need plutonium to work properly.

Images for kids

  • SEMofusedMOX

    A used MOX, which has 63 GW days (thermal) of burnup and has been examined with a scanning electron microscope using electron microprobe attachment. The lighter the pixel in the right hand side the higher the plutonium content of the material at that spot

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Combustible nuclear de mezcla de óxidos para niños

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MOX fuel Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.