uranium hexafluoride

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a colorless, water-insoluble, crystalline, volatile solid, UF 6 , used in its gaseous state in separating uranium 235 from uranium.

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uranium hexafluoride British  

/ ˌhɛksəˈflʊəˌraɪd /

noun

1. a compound used in the process of uranium enrichment that produces fissile material for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Formula: UF 6

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Etymology

Origin of uranium hexafluoride

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

Tuesday morning, the maker of refrigerants and uranium hexafluoride, an intermediate product for nuclear fuel, reported External link first-quarter earnings per share of 63 cents from sales of $991 million.

From Barron's • May 6, 2026

"If this uranium hexafluoride comes in contact with moisture in the air, it's really quite corrosive and nasty because it can form this very, very strong acid," he said.

From BBC • Jun. 19, 2025

It said the worker died from a "mechanical injury" caused by a breach in a container of uranium hexafluoride, a chemical compound used in uranium enrichment.

From Reuters • Jul. 14, 2023

AP also tracked millions of dollars worth of shipments of radioactive uranium hexafluoride from Russian state-owned Tenex JSC, the world’s largest exporter of initial nuclear fuel cycle products, to Westinghouse Electric Co. in South Carolina.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 24, 2022

They found Abelson laboring in a forest of one hundred towering cylindrical columns, in which uranium hexafluoride with a high concentration of U-235 was accumulating.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik