Nuclear fuel is made up of high concentrations of fissile material, usually rod-shaped containers filled with fuel pellets. There are numerous types of nuclear fuels:
- Low-Enriched Uranium or LEU is made up of less than 20% concentration of U-235. This type of fuel is not regulated by the Department of Energy, owing to the fact a significant amount of Oceanyka's natural Uranium (particularly that extracted from New Kursk) would be classified as LEU otherwise.
- High-Enriched Uranium or HEU is made up of more than 20% concentration of U-235. This type of fuel is regulated within the Oceanykan Federation and requires a C-type Hazardous Fuels License. Though a nuclear weapon can be made from HEU, this is unfeasible under most circumstances due to the masses and explosives required.
- Weapons-Grade Uranium or WGU is made up of more than 85% concentration of U-235. Though extremely power-efficient, and also dangerously radioactive, WGU (as its name indicates) can be used to manufacture atomic weapons. As such, it requires an A-type Atomic Weapons License, a privilege typically reserved for major polities of The Oceanykan Council. Black-market WGU sales are actively suppressed by federal security agencies, particularly the Atomic Regulations Enforcement Section.
- Mixed-Oxide Fuel or MOX is made from spent fuel and contains a small amount of Plutonium-239. Because it requires further reprocessing and isotope separation to be dangerous, MOX fuel can be used by holders of a C-type Hazardous Fuels License.
- Thorium Mixed-Oxide Fuel or TOX is a mixture of 2-5% Uranium-233 and 95-98% Thorium-232, compatible with most modern nuclear reactors in Oceanyka. U-233 itself can be produced from Th-232, is extremely hard to employ in an atomic weapon and continuously produces more of itself from the rod's Th-232 content, while thorium is extremely abundant in Oceanyka, as much as three times more than Uranium. Industrially and commercially viable TOX fuel, and its employment, is perhaps the most economically important result of the secretive Project LIBERTY. The only major producer of TOX fuel in Oceanyka is ACME Atomic Industries, and its use is unregulated, although its production is not.
- Weapons-Grade Plutonium or WGP is made up of larger amounts of, or nearly pure, Pu-239. This is the most dangerous type of nuclear fuel in terms of proliferation: as little as 1kg of Plutonium is necessary to create an atomic bomb. Because of its extreme power output, WGP is impractical as a nuclear fuel, being more likely to spontaneously fission and evaporate everything within five kilometres... but it's not impossible. Its mere possession requires an A-type Atomic Weapons License.
- Enriched Warpstone comes in the same varieties as its more conventional U-235 cousins; as LEW, HEW and WGW. The mutagenic and fissile properties of this material are well recorded, while its reality-altering properties are only understood by the most secretive of scientific institutions. However, federal law recognises the danger which this particular material possesses, and ever since the 1958 Blackburn Nuclear Incident its refinement, possession and usage has been strictly prohibited.
Most nuclear reactors in Oceanyka are designed to be able to handle all commercial fuels. However, they might have problems with fuels intended to explode violently rather than produce energy such as WGU and WGP. Powering a nuclear reactor with enriched warpstone is severely discouraged due to its unpredictable mutagenic, reality-altering and psionic effects.