Depleted uranium hexafluoride

[10] A year later, Yulii Khariton and Yakov Zeldovich were the first to prove theoretically that with an enrichment of 235U in natural uranium, a chain reaction could be sustained.

In 1973, roughly 10 long-term contracts were signed with power companies from Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Switzerland.

[14] By 2017, large commercial enrichment plants have been operating in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States, Russia and China.

Since UF6 is the only uranium compound that is gaseous at a relatively low temperature, it plays a key role in the nuclear fuel cycle as a substance suitable for separating 235U and 238U.

[21] Given the technological capabilities and concepts of the nuclear fuel cycle in each country, with access to separation facilities, DUHF may be considered as a valuable raw material on one hand or low-level radioactive waste on the other.

Depending on nuclear fuel cycle strategy, technological capabilities, international conventions and programs, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the UN Global Compact, each country approaches the issue of the use of accumulated depleted uranium individually.

[21][29][30] The United States has adopted a number of long-term programs for the safe storage and reprocessing of DUHF stocks prior to their final disposal.

[34][35] Several countries, such as the United States, France, Russia, and China, through their leading nuclear power operators, have committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

[44] Depleted UF6 is transported and stored under standard conditions in solid form and in sealed metal containers with wall thickness of about 1 cm (0.39 in), designed for extreme mechanical and corrosive impacts.

[46][47] DUHF is loaded and unloaded from these containers under factory conditions when heated, in liquid form and via special autoclaves.

[48] Due to its low radioactivity, the main health hazards of DUHF are connected to its chemical effects on bodily functions.

To ensure that these kidney concentrations are not exceeded, legislation limits long-term (8 hours) concentrations of soluble uranium in workplace air to 0.2 mg per cubic meter and short-term (15 minutes) to 0.6 mg per cubic meter[4] In August 1984, the freighter MS Mont Louis sank in the English Channel with 18 containers of slightly depleted (0.67% 238U) uranium hexafluoride on board, along with enriched and natural UF6.

There was no evidence of leakage of either radioactive (natural or recycled uranium) or hazardous chemical substances (fluorine or hydrofluoric acid).

[49][50] According to The Washington Post, this incident was not hazardous because the uranium cargo was in its natural state, with an isotope 235U content of 0.72% or less, and only some of it was enriched to 0.9%.