► EXPOSÉ Nuclear physics remains one of the fields of science most shrouded in mystery. The nature of this work remains highly classified for national security interests. Even so, there have been some interesting details shared with the public over the years.
Uranium consists of several isotopes; an isotope is the same element with a different number of neutrons in the atom's nucleus. Uranium consists of several isotopes: 99.3% U-238 and 0.7% U-235. These isotopes differ in mass by less than 1% and are otherwise chemically identical. A significant part of any nuclear program is isolating the fissible U-235. Spinning centrifuges are the most common way of accomplishing this feat today - they spin uranium at high speed to push the slightly heavier U-238 to the outside and leave a higher concentration of U-235 in the middle. However, this remains a time consuming process.
In the 1990's, researchers discovered that a specific wavelength of light (16 micrometers) can ionize only U-235, giving it a slight positive charge. Since a 16 micrometer laser does not exist, a CO2 laser (10 micrometer) is optically amplified to 16 micrometers. Alternatively, a free-electron laser could be tuned to the necessary frequency. The laser shines into a flow of vaporized uranium-hexafluoride (UF6). The U-235 (hexafluoride molecule) gains a slight positive charge. That ionized U-235 can be collected by an oppositely charged plate or diverted by a magnetic field to be collected.
Overall, this process requires much lower energy and less operating time than previous methods. However, it is no a simple setup at all! Technological hurdles have held back a large-scale rollout of this technology. Once the technology is established (if ever), it will make enriching uranium easier than ever, which rightly has political leaders concerned over a renaissance of nuclear proliferation.
An additional oddity about this method is that it is one of only a few times in the history of the United States that the government has classified information that originated in the private sector. It has been handed off between various companies and interests in the years since. In 2018, it was officially abandoned, for now. It remains unclear if there is enough interest to ever pursue the technology further.
►RESEARCH LINKS Laser Enrichment Self-Study - https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1204/ML12045A051.pdf Laser Isotope Separation and Nuclear Proliferation - https://www.nature.com/news/us-grants-licence-for-uranium-laser-enrichment-1.11502 Uranium and Enrichment Processes - https://www.britannica.com/technology/nuclear-reactor/Uranium-mining-and-processing ►CREDITS Narrator & Editor - Dayton Aardema Music & Sounds - Storyblocks.com
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