Laser Isotope Separation Uranium Enrichment

Atomic and molecular laser isotope separation (LIS) techniques use lasers to selectively excite atoms or molecules containing one isotope of uranium so that they can be preferentially extracted. Although LIS appears promising, the technology has proven to be extremely difficult to master and may be beyond the reach of even technically advanced states. In the early 1970's, significant work began on the development of laser isotope separation technologies for uranium enrichment. Present systems for enrichment processes using lasers fall into two categories: those in which the process medium is atomic uranium vapor and those in which the process medium is the vapor of a uranium compound. Common nomenclature for such processes include "first categoryatomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS or SILVA)" and "second categorymolecular laser isotope separation (MLIS or MOLIS)." AVLIS The atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS) process is based on the fact that 235 U atoms and 238 U atoms absorb light of different frequencies (or colors). Although the absorption frequencies of these two isotopes differ only by a very small amount (about one part in a million), the dye lasers used in AVLIS can be tuned so that only the 235 U atoms absorb the laser light. As the 235 U atom absorbs the laser light, its electrons are excited to a higher energy state. With the absorption of sufficient energy, a 235 U atom will eject an electron and become a positively charged ion. The 235 U ions may then be deflected by an electrostatic field to a product collector. The 238 U atoms remain neutral and pass through the product collector section and are deposited on a tails collector. The AVLIS process consists of a laser system and a separation system. The separator system contains a vaporizer and a collector. In the vaporizer, metallic uranium is melted and vaporized to form an atomic vapor stream. The vapor stream flows through the collector, where it is illuminated by the precisely tuned laser light. The AVLIS laser system is a pumped laser system comprised of one laser used to optically pump a separate dye laser, which produces the light used in the separation process. Dye master oscillator lasers provide precise laser beam frequency, timing, and quality control. The laser light emerging from the dye master oscillator laser is increased in power by passage through a dye laser amplifier. A total of three colors are used to ionize the 235 U atoms. Many countries are pursuing some level of AVLIS research and/or development, and major programs exist in the United States, France, Japan, and probably Russia. Principal advantages of the AVLIS process include a high separation factor, low energy consumption (approximately the same as the centrifuge process), and a small volume of generated waste. However, no country has yet deployed an AVLIS process, although several have demonstrated the capability to enrich uranium with the process.

MLIS The idea for the molecular laser isotope separation (MLIS) process was conceived by a group of scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1971. There are two basic steps involved in the MLIS process. In the first step, UF 6 is irradiated by an infrared laser system operating near the 16 mm wavelength, which selectively excites the 235 UF 6 , leaving the 238 UF 6 relatively unexcited. In the second step, photons from a second laser system (infrared or ultraviolet) preferentially dissociate the excited 235 UF 6 to form 235 UF 5 and free fluorine atoms. The 235 UF 5 formed from the dissociation precipitates from the gas as a powder that can be filtered from the gas stream. MLIS is a stagewise process, and each stage requires conversion of the enriched UF 5 product back to UF 6 for further enrichment. CO 2 lasers are suitable for exciting the 235 UF 6 during the first step. A XeCl excimer laser producing ultraviolet light may be suitable for the dissociation of 235 UF 6 during the second step. However, there is currently no known MLIS optical system which has been successfully designed to handle both infrared and ultraviolet. Consequently, most MLIS concepts use an all infrared optical system. In terms of the gas flow for the MLIS process, gaseous UF 6 mixed with a carrier gas and a scavenger gas is expanded through a supersonic nozzle that cools the gas to low temperatures. Hydrogen or a noble gas are suitable as carriers. A scavenger gas (such as methane) is used to capture the fluorine atoms that are released as a result of the dissociation of 235 UF 6 molecules.