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Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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ANS panel discussion looks at nuclear’s place in maritime, energy, medicine, space
The applications of nuclear energy extend beyond providing power to the electrical grid. Advanced nuclear technologies may soon have new applications in oil and gas facilities, in hospitals and clinics, on the open seas, and on the moon.
A June 1 executive session, “How Nuclear Technologies will Shape the Future Energy Economy,” at the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference allowed experts have an open discussion on the future of nuclear advancements in multiple sectors.
F. S. Becker, K. L. Kompa
Nuclear Technology | Volume 58 | Number 2 | August 1982 | Pages 329-353
Technical Note | Radioisotopes and Isotope | doi.org/10.13182/NT82-A32941
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Today, the most actively pursued uranium laser isotope separation methods work with uranium vapor, organic uranium compounds, or uranium hexafluoride. The atomic vapor process has reached the highest development level, but its commercial realization is facing severe obstacles due to the aggressivity of the uranium vapor and the low working pressure. For a commercial separation plant, UF6 would be the most attractive process gas. A promising approach to overcome the problems caused by the small UF6 isotope shift seems to be the use of two infrared wavelengths in the 16- and 9-μm range. Currently, only the CO2 laser pumped CF4 laser and the stimulated rotational Raman scattering of CO2 laser radiation in para-hydrogen are able to provide the energies required for the selective 16-μm excitation, with the Raman method offering better prospects with regard to scalability and frequency tuning. The state-of-the-art of both of these lasers is not advanced enough for a commercial separation plant, where a narrowing of the complex UF6 spectrum by means of a supersonic beam is probably indispensable. Their development level, however, is sufficient to carry through the experiments necessary to clarify the still unanswered questions, i.e., to what extent and with what yield the absorption differences of the two isotopic UF6 species can be transformed into a selective dissociation.