HEU

abbreviation for

1. highly enriched uranium

Example Sentences

The U.S.-led program has helped contain nuclear proliferation and prevent nuclear terrorism by converting 71 reactors in the U.S. and abroad from HEU to LEU fuel, even tiny ones containing only one kilogram of HEU.

From Scientific American

In 1990, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein secretly ordered a crash program to extract HEU from his foreign-supplied research reactor fuel to make an atomic bomb—after his invasion of neighboring Kuwait—but a U.N. intervention fortunately evicted his troops and interrupted the plot before it could succeed.

From Scientific American

Whether they import HEU from the United States, purchase it from Russia or build their own enrichment plants, the risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism will grow again.

From Scientific American

Despite this, the Biden administration decided to use HEU “to keep the size of the experimental reactor small” and to reduce the radioactive waste.

From Scientific American

The irony is that other countries have voiced identical arguments to lobby for their own use of HEU, but the U.S. government for half a century has rejected such pleas, emphasizing that nonproliferation is worth the extra expense and that the U.S. practices what it preaches.

From Scientific American