Soviet centrifuge enrichment
As the Soviet Union (USSR) has been increasingly successful in gaining a foothold in the Western SWU market, there has been a great deal of speculation about the status of Soviet enrichment technology and the pricing of Soviet enrichment services. Dr. Alexander Chernov, Deputy General Director of V/O Techsnabexport, the marketing arm for uranium and enrichment and conversion services for the USSR, reported to the Uranium Institute in September 1989 that, {open_quotes}in 1989, gaseous centrifuges form a major part of the USSR [isotope] separation capacity, and the process represents a large potential for its further development. Numerous advantages over diffusion exist. First, a small specific energy consumption has been achieved (twenty to thirty times less), so that electricity has become a small part of the total operating costs. There is an environmental advantage connected to low power consumption. The plant can be built with the right number of centrifuges to bring it close to its ideal cascade size with almost no losses in the separative work. Lastly, gas centrifuges require low amounts of uranium hexaflouride to work, which ensures a high degree of production flexibility, such as when altering the cascade for a different final product or tails assay.{close_quotes} This commitment to centrifuge technology, first made in the early 1950s, probably accounts for the competitive pricing of enrichment services currently offered through Techsnabexport.
- OSTI ID:
- 104820
- Journal Information:
- NUEXCO. Monthly Report to the Nuclear Industry, Journal Issue: 253; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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