SPECIAL NUCLEAR MATERIA L
"Special nuclear material" (SNM) is defined by Title I of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as plutonium, uranium-233, or uranium enriched in the isotopes uranium-233 or uranium-235. In 1789, Uranium was discovered in the mineral called pitchblende, by a German chemist named Martin Klaproth. It was named after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered eight years earlier. Uranium-233 and plutonium are formed in nuclear reactors because they do not occur naturally. It has to be taken from highly radioactive spent fuel by chemical separation. Uranium-233 can be produced in special reactors that use thorium as fuel. Only small quantities of uranium-233 have ever been made in the United States. No U.S. commercial plutonium reprocessing plant is currently licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for operation. Uranium enriched in uranium-235 is created by an enrichment facility. The NRC regulates two gaseous diffusion enrichment plants operated......
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