APPLICABILITY OF A SEPARATION PROCESS FOR LARGE-SCALE ISOTOPE PRODUCTION
The considerations, presented in two parts, deal with isotope enrichment by irreversible chemical reactions. In the first part the necessary equations that quantitatively describe the process are developed. The performance of both a single separation state and of a cascade of stages connected in series are considered. The other part of the presentation deals with the design considerations necessary to evaluate a process. The applicabilty of irreversible chemical reactions to largescale separation of isotopes is then evaluated by comparing costs for isotope separation in a cascade utiiizing in one case irreversible chemical reactions and in the other case chemical exchange. The chemical exchange process was chosen as a standard of comparison because it has so far been the most attractive process in the case of light element. The evaluation shows that the irreversible chemical reaction process is severly handicapped because of its requirements for a reflux after each stage compared to a chemical exchange process which requires refluxing only at the two ends. It therefore appears that for large-scale separation of isotopes the irreversible chemical reaction process will not be competitive unless it has a relatively high separation factor compared with that of the corresponding chemical exchange process. For very small enrichments the costs would be more comparable. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Tenn.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-12-014697
- OSTI ID:
- 4328326
- Report Number(s):
- A/CONF.15/P/719
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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