PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SEPARATING ISOTOPES FROM A GAS FLOW

摘要

Process for the isotopic separation of at least two different isotopes of a substance in gaseous form, consisting in: converting into the form of a gas (SF6, UF6 or MoF6) the substance of interest containing the desired isotope; creating a supersonic speed stream of said gas, having laminar or slightly turbulent flow; exciting the molecules with a laser; inhibiting, by means of a laser, the nucleation of one of the isotopologues, thus forming less heavy aggregates of said isotopologue than the aggregates formed by the molecules of the other isotopologue; ionizing the molecules and aggregates of said gas; subjecting the ionized molecules and ionized aggregates of molecules to an electromagnetic field, in order to make the ionized molecules and aggregates of one of the isotopologues migrate to outside of the stream; recovering the portion of the gas stream having the highest concentration of the desired isotope.