Two optimal working regimes of the ”long” Iguasu gas centrifuge

Abstract

We argue on the basis of the results of optimization calculations that the dependence of the optimal separative power of the Iguasu gas centrifuge with 2 m rotor has two local maxima,corresponding pressures of pmax1 = 35 mmHg and pmax2 = 350 mmHg. The optimal separative power values in these maxima differ by the value of 0.6%. Low pressure maximum is caused by the thermal drive, whereas high pressure maximum is caused by both thermal and mechanical drives. High pressure maximum is located on wide ’’plateau” from p1 = 200 mmHg to p2 = 500 mmHg, where the optimal separative power changes in the range of 0.7%. In this way, Iguasu gas centrifuge has two optimal working regimes with different sets of working parameters and close slightly different values of the separative power. Calculations show that high pressure regime is less sensitive to the parameters change than low pressure one.