^Natural Uranium

^Natural Uranium

Found as uranium oxide (U₂ O₃)  which when purified has a rich yellow color and is called “yellowcake”. Uranium has three isotopes namely:

₉₂U²³⁸ (99.3%), ₉₂U²³⁵ (0.69%) & ₉₂U²³⁴ (0.01%).

As the relative of abundance is highest for ₉₂U²³⁸, it is called FERTILE. However fission is possible only with ₉₂U²³⁵, thus is called FISSILE.

Chemical isotopes that can sustain a fission chain reaction are called nuclear fuels, and are said to be fissile.