The figure illustrates the generation cycle of nuclear power. It comprises of main six steps namely extraction, processing, generation of electricity, usage, recycling and disposal.
Firstly, the uranium ores are extracted from the metal deposits in the earth crust. Then, the mined uranium’s are transported to processing industry in order to be converted and enriched to create U-235 fuel pellets. The produced U-235 fuel pellets contain massive nuclear energy content. They are then introduced into the nuclear reactors in order to power the generators which eventually generates electricity.
The U235 fuel pellets normally utilized to generated electricity for about four consecutive years. After that period, almost most of the fuel with them is spent to generate electricity. Some of the spent fuels can re-processed and re-used to re-generate electricity. As such they are re-introduced into the nuclear reactors again to power the generators. However, some spent fuel cannot be reprocessed. Then, they are stored in the containers and buried.