Vacuum arcs for plasma centrifuge isotope enrichment

Journal Article · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989 · IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/27.41184· OSTI ID:6661776

Hirshfield, J L ^[1]; Levin, L A; Danziger, O ^[2]

---

1. Racah Inst. of Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
2. Isomed Ltd., P.O. Box 23016, Jerusalem 91230 (IL)

This paper reviews requirements for economic plasma centrifuge isotope enrichment. A distributed-discharge vacuum arc in chromium is described and a qualitative model for its operation is given. Experiments were performed on a modified distributed-discharge vacuum arc in which the parameters appear to be well suited for plasma centrifuge operation. A 2-m-long, 10-cm-diameter fully ionized dc chromium arc was produced with ion density and temperature in the range of 10{sup 13} cm{sup {minus}3} and 0.16 eV. Chromium mass throughput rates in the range of 1 g/min are reported, with continuous running times of up to 40 min, limited only by chromium supply.

• OSTI ID: 6661776
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (USA), Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (USA) Vol. 17:5; ISSN ITPSB; ISSN 0093-3813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
070100* -- Physical Isotope Separation
CENTRIFUGE ENRICHMENT PLANTS
CHROMIUM
ELEMENTS
FURNACES
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
ION DENSITY
ION TEMPERATURE
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
ISOTOPE SEPARATION PLANTS
MATERIALS
METALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PLASMA PRODUCTION
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
VACUUM FURNACES