A Scale Model of the Blind River Uranium Refinery

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As this scale model shows, inside the Blind River refinery is a maze of pipes, tanks, and vats. Here, uranium is converted from a fine dry powder, called "yellowcake", which is almost the consistency of flour, into a kind of gel called "uranium trioxide". The uranium trioxide is then shipped to Port Hope, where it is transformed into uranium dioxide (for domestic use as CANDU fuel) and uranium hexafluoride (for export to an enrichment plant). After it has been enriched, the exported uranium can be used as fuel for other types of reactors.


photo by Robert Del Tredici from his book entitled
At Work In The Fields Of The Bomb (Harper and Row, 1987)

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