Fuel fabrication

The enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is transformed into uranium dioxide (UO2) powder by defluorination.
This powder is compacted then sintered to form pellets of enriched UO2 , which will then be inserted into zirconium tubes known as rods. Alternatively, depleted uranium and plutonium may be used as Mixed OXides (MOX), a substitute for enriched UO2.
264 rods containing around 300 pellets each, are combined in a metal structure to form a Fuel Assembly (FA).