nuclear fuel

[ noo-klee-er fyoo-uhl, nyoo- ]

noun

1. Physics. fissile or fertile material that undergoes fission in a nuclear reactor.
2. any light element, as hydrogen or helium, that undergoes fusion and gives off energy within the interior of stars.

nuclear fuel

noun

1. a fuel that provides nuclear energy, used in nuclear power stations, nuclear submarines, etc

Pronunciation Note

See nuclear ( def ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of nuclear fuel¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Officials estimate if they could recycle the spent uranium fuel — similar to the nuclear fuel reprocessing program in France — only one-fifth of the waste at San Onofre would be there.

From Voice of San Diego

And, well, because a byproduct of nuclear fuel is plutonium, which can be mixed with other stuff and used again in a nuclear reactor, but also can be used to make nuclear weapons.

From Voice of San Diego

Other countries recycle their nuclear fuel, like France which gets about 72 percent of its electricity from nuclear power.

From Voice of San Diego

At the new Holtec facility, spent nuclear fuel would be shipped in from all over the country and put into interim storage.

From MIT Technology Review

So SONGS is keeping the rods of spent nuclear fuel in storage holes buried along the seismically active California coastline.

From MIT Technology Review

When these stars run out of nuclear fuel, they explode in supernovas, but their cores collapse under intense gravity.

From The Daily Beast

Enrichment is the process of creating nuclear fuel from uranium needed for peaceful reactors and nuclear weapons.

From The Daily Beast

The Iranians are installing equipment that will allow it to accelerate the production of nuclear fuel.

From The Daily Beast

Another huge blast was reported at the end of the month in Isfahan, site of an important nuclear fuel production facility.

From The Daily Beast

The smoke appeared to be coming from the area where a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel is located.

From The Daily Beast

The decision to continue supply of nuclear fuel to the Indian Tarapur reactors was sensitive to this effort.

From Project Gutenberg