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currently American nuclear power plants store the spent fuel in spent fuel pools without reprocessing. Why? Mainly because reprocessing is more expensive than making new fuel from uranium ore.

.Mining. The first step in the nuclear fuel cycle is mining the uranium ore. Workers mine uranium ore much as coal miners mine coal-in deep underground mines or in open-pit surface mines. A ton of uranium ore in the United States typically contains three to four pounds of uranium.
Milling. After it has been mined uranium ore is crushed. The crushed ore is usually poured into an acid, which dissolves the uranium, but not the rest of the crushed rock. The acid solution is drained off and dried, leaving a yellow powder called "yellowcake," consisting mostly of uranium. This process of removing uranium from the ore is called uranium milling.
Conversion. The next step in the cycle is the conversion of the yellowcake into a gas called uranium hexafluoride, or UF6. The uranium hexafluoride is......

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Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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