Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Program. Volume III. Environmental Statement Page: 66 of 622
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Table 6A.1-3
PRODUCT COST AND OUTPUT AS A FUNCTION OF TAILS ASSAYa
Tails Assay Product Cost Annual Product Annual Feed
(wt.% U-235) ($/kg U) Output Input
(metric tons U) (short tons U308)
0.3 301.86 2641 24,200
0.273 300.88 2498 21,700
0.2 308.59 2107 16,100
0.1 355.48 1523 10,000
aBases: 10,000,000 separative work units per year; feed price $8/lb U308 ($23.46/
kg U as UF6); separative work cost $36.00 per kg unit; feed assay 0.711%
U-235; product assay 3.2% U-235.
the expense of reduced product output and accelerated need for additional separa-
tions capacity in an expanding requirements situation.
The Possibility of Laser Enrichment Processes
As suggested by Figure 6A.1-ll, a substantial lowering of separative work costs
would permit more efficient separation of U-235 while maintaining favorable product
cost. Large cost reduction is not a reasonable expectation in gaseous diffusion
technology.* On theoretical grounds, however, the most promising approaches to
more or less complete separation of uranium isotopes at low product costs would be
through processes that take advantage of the small, inherent energy state differ-
ences between molecules of the isotopes, instead of mass differences on which
currently feasible (e.g. electromagnetic,* gas centrifuge, gaseous diffusion)
processes depend.
The advent of lasers and a rapidly developing laser technology has enhanced the
possibility of developing commercial-scale processes for the separation of uranium
(and other) isotopes, at low cost and high separations efficiency, through the
mechanism of selective photon excitation of molecules. This possibility is
suggested by: (1) the large amounts of coherent light energy that can be obtained
from lasers; (2) the range of laser frequencies available; and (3) the frequency
purities attainable.
*Product costs from gas centrifuge separations plants could prove to be somewhat
lower than the same products from gaseous diffusion plants, but would not be the
large cost reductions contemplated herein.9
**The electromagnetic process was used briefly during World War II but was
abandoned in favor of gaseous diffusion on economic grounds.6A.1-21
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Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Program. Volume III. Environmental Statement, report, December 1, 1974; Washington, District of Columbia. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1019855/m1/66/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.