Separation of isotopes by laser excitation
Method of producing enriched uranium / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Separation of isotopes by laser excitation (SILEX) is a process under development to enrich uranium on an industrial scale for nuclear reactors. It is strongly suspected that it utilizes laser condensation repression to excite the uranium-235 isotope in uranium hexafluoride (UF6), allowing this lighter molecule to move more rapidly to the outer rim of a gaseous jet and resist condensing compared to the heavier, unexcited 238UF6.[1] This differs greatly from previous methods of laser enrichment explored for their commercial prospects: one using atomic uranium (Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS)) and another molecular method that uses lasers to dissociate a fluorine atom from 235UF6 (Molecular Laser Isotope Separation (MLIS)), allowing the enriched product to precipitate out as a solid.[1]
While the Australian company Silex Systems Limited is the most prominent developer of this technology (as part of the Global Laser Enrichment consortium), the acronym SILEX really only refers to a physical separation concept utilizing condensation repression that is well known and under development or being used for multiple applications around the world.[2] Slight variations in operating parameters, equipment arrangements, lasers and their capabilities, may exist from one SILEX-type process to the next (and be called by different names), but the physical separation concept remains the same if condensation repression is utilized, especially when compared to that used by AVLIS or MLIS.
Princeton physicist Ryan Snyder has suggested that this process may lead to the further proliferation of nuclear weapons due to its increasingly accessible technological pathway[2][3] and undetectable signatures (small area footprint and high energy efficiency).[1]