Where does excess uranium 238 goes?

Question

Natural uranium is 0.7% U-235 and the rest is U-238. For nuclear reactor you need enriched uranium with higher percentage of U-235. But what to do with U-238 if it’s useless as reactor fuel, as a nuclear weapon, and still radioactive to use it as regular material.

In: Physics

Answer 1

It is called “depleted uranium” or DU. DU is used in armor and armor piercing shells, as well as nuclear weapons for non-fuel components. It is extremely dense, so it can be useful as a weight or radiation shielding. According to Wikipedia it can also be used as a colorant.