MOX fuel (from MOX – mixed oxides) – is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors that predominate nuclear power generation. The idea of the International Day for Prohibition of MOX fuel appeared in Russia, where environmental organizations in 1998 called on public to oppose the use of such fuel for nuclear reactors, taking into consideration the high ecological risk of its use. This Day is remarked for memory of one of the biggest nuclear disasters of the XX century – explosion on the plutonium factory “Mayak” in Chelyabinsk city in 1957. The idea of this Day was supported by more than a hundred NGOs around the world.
