This paper addresses known methods used to purify regenerated uranium in single and double cascades. A new method for separating regenerated uranium has been developed that enables a significant reduction of the concentration of 232,234U in the additional product flow. Matched abundance ratio cascades (M*-cascades) with different key components and additional product flow are used in the new method. Main product flow of the M*-cascade contains low enriched regenerated uranium. It can be used for reactor fuel production. Purified product can be enriched in the ordinary cascade in compliance with the requirements of ASTM C 996-10 set for isotopes 232,234U in low enriched commercial uranium, which is usually produced from the natural one. Computer experiment based on the new method has been performed. The experiment shows that the best cascade with the maximum flow of the enriched purified product is M*-cascade with key components 232,236U.
Abstract The problem of highly concentrated molybdenum isotopes production in multiflow cascades is considered. A method of the cascade with two additional product flows optimization has been developed. Two components intermediate in weight are concentrated simultaneously in those flows. The optimization problem is solved using a variation of the partial flow cuts of the cascade stages with large separation coefficients. The optimization criterion is the minimum of the stage total feed flow while ensuring a given concentration of isotopes. A computational experiment was carried out to separate a mixture of molybdenum hexafluoride. The experiment demonstrated the features of intermediate components concentrating in additional product flows of the cascade.
