Abstract
Isotope effects are small and separation of mixtures of isotopes is correspondingly difficult. The theory of isotope separation is reviewed and necessary terminology introduced. Practical methods of isotope separation are discussed focusing on the fundamentals of multistage processes and cascade design. We discuss the use of distillation, chemical exchange, gaseous diffusion, thermal diffusion, centrifugation, electromagnetic fields, and laser processes for the separation of isotopes from natural abundance feeds. Numerous examples are treated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Further Reading
Avery, D. G., Davies, E., 1973 Uranium Enrichment by Gas Centrifuge (London, Mills & Boon, Ltd.)
Benedict, M., Pigford, M., Levi, H. W., 1981 Nuclear Chemical Engineering, 2nd Ed. (New York, McGraw-Hill)
Cohen, K., 1951 The Theory of Isotope Separation (New York, McGraw-Hill)
Ishida, T., Fujii, Y. 2006 Enrichment of Isotopes in Kohen, A., Limbach, H. H. Isotope effects in Chemistry and Biology (Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis)
Kistemaker, J., Bigeleisen, J., Nier, A. O. C., Eds. 1958 Proceedings of the International Symposium on Isotope Separation (Amsterdam, North-Holland)
Klein, E. R., Klein, P. L. Eds. 1979 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Stable Isotopes (New York, Academic) p. 175
London, H., 1961 Separation of Isotopes (London, George Newnes)
Rae, H. K., Ed., 1978. Separation of Hydrogen Isotopes, ACS Symposium Series 68 (Washington, DC, American Chemical Society)
Spindel, W. 1969 Isotope Effects in Chemical Processes, Advances in Chemistry Series 89 (Washington, DC, American Chemical Society)
Spindel, W., Ishida, T.,1990 Isotope Separation, in Lerner, R. G., Trigg, G. L., Eds. Encyclopedia of Physics (New York, VCH Publishers) 2nd Ed.
Van Hook, W. A. 2004 Isotope Separation, in Vertes, A., Nagy, S., Klencsar, Z., Eds. Volume 5, p. 177, Handbook of Isotope Chemistry (Dordrecht, Kluwer)
Villani, S., 1979 Uranium Separation (Berlin, Springer-Verlag)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wolfsberg, M., Van Hook, W.A., Paneth, P. (2009). Isotope Separation. In: Isotope Effects. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2265-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2265-3_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2264-6
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2265-3
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)