Nuclear Proliferation TechnologyTrends Analysis - International ...

PNNL-14480
• Electromagnetic Isotope Separation (EMIS)
• Chemical and Ion Exchange Enrichment
• Aerodynamic Isotope Separation
• Laser enrichment
2. Reactor based technology
• Graphite moderated
• Heavy water moderated
• Research
• Reprocessing
Some other enrichment technologies that have received some attention and evaluation
include thermal diffusion, mass diffusion, and plasma separation. Of these, thermal
diffusion was used in the early days of the Manhattan Project by the Unites States.; but
due to cost and excessive power requirements, its use was discontinued. Similarly mass
diffusion was investigated, but it too had excessive cost and power requirements and so
was never developed on an industrial scale. The physics of plasma separation are still
being studied, but nothing beyond laboratory experiments has been done. Consequently,
these technologies are not evaluated in this study. Conventional commercial light water
moderated reactors are also not evaluated, as they have not to date been used in
proliferation programs.
A technology can be acquired in three ways, indigenous development, purchase, or covert
acquisition. The following discussion summarizes the technical development of each of
the approaches described above in the countries that have used or attempted to use it and
evaluates the differences in development based on the acquisition method.
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