Laser Isotope Separation Employing Condensation Repression
Molecular laser isotope separation (MLIS) techniques using condensation repression (CR) harvesting are reviewed and compared with atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS), gaseous diffusion (DIF), ultracentrifuges (UCF), and electromagnetic separations (EMS). Two different CR-MLIS or CRISLA (Condensation Repression Isotope Separation by Laser Activation) approaches have been under investigation at the University of Missouri (MU), one involving supersonic super-cooled free jets and dimer formation, and the other subsonic cold-wall condensation. Both employ mixtures of an isotopomer (e.g. {sup i}QF{sub 6}) and a carrier gas, operated at low temperatures and pressures. Present theories of VT relaxation, dimerization, and condensation are found to be unsatisfactory to explain/predict experimental CRISLA results. They were replaced by fundamentally new models that allow ab-initio calculation of isotope enrichments and predictions of condensation parameters for laser-excited and non-excited vapors which are in good agreement with experiment. Because of supersonic speeds, throughputs for free-jet CRISLA are a thousand times higher than cold-wall CRISLA schemes, and thus preferred for large-quantity Uranium enrichments. For small-quantity separations of (radioactive) medical isotopes, the simpler coldwall CRISLA method may be adequate.
- Research Organization:
- Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 912774
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-20031012--3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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