Nuclear Fuel Cycle Illustrations
USEC Inc. commissioned me to create a detailed set of illustrations to be used for print and web as educational resources. The illustrations were to represent the nuclear fuel cycle and specifically describe six steps in uranium enrichment that USEC Inc. employes to provide fuel for the nuclear energy industry. I created these illustrations in adobe illustrator and exported for various uses and at various sizes. The final files are were used to create an interactive flash presentation, currently used under educational resources on the usec.com website.
Cylinders containing natural uranium, in the form of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), arrive at one of USEC’s enrichment facilities, where they are inspected and sampled.
Each cylinder of UF6 is loaded into a huge autoclave where it is heated until the UF6 becomes a gas.
USEC Inc. employes two different processess for uranium enrichment; Gaseous Diffusion (left) and the American Centrifuge (right). I created these matching illustrations to show how each process differs in separating the heavier U-238 molecules (red) from the lighter U-235 (blue) molecules that are then collected.
At the product withdrawal facility, enriched UF6 is withdrawn from the cascade into 10-ton cylinders and sampled to ensure it meets specifications. It is later loaded into smaller 2.5-ton product cylinders.
The product cylinders are then loaded into sturdy, protective containers for shipment to a nuclear fuel fabricator where the enriched uranium is converted into fuel assemblies for our customers’ nuclear power reactors.
