The separation of isotopes of elements other than uranium by the gaseous diffusion process

Abstract

Preliminary studies have been made of the feasibility of using the gaseous diffusion process for the production of enriched isotopes of certain specific elements wich are of interest in various phases of the United States' nuclear program. The results of these studies indicate the gaseous diffusion process is probably the most practicable method of separating the isotopes of tungsten, molybdenum, and xenon to produce materials with the desired characteristics. In each of these cases one is confronted with the problem of separating the isotopes of a multicomponent mixture : in the case of tungsten the desired isotope, W-184, is a middle isotope in the naturally occurring mixture. Special modes of operation are required in order to enrich a mixture with respect to a middle isotope. Since all of the considerations which apply to the separation of the various isotopes mentioned above are included in a discussion of the tungsten problem, this paper is limited to the specific problem of enriching the desired isotopes of tungsten.