Study on the operating conditions of centrifuges and their individual separative power in a stage of an isotope separation cascade

Abstract

Since the ideal cascade theory, several mathematical models have been developed to improve the understanding of isotopic separation cascades. Despite numerous advances in modeling multicomponent and transient cascades, there has not yet been a model that takes into account the individual centrifuges' operating conditions and separative power. This study analyses how the number of centrifuges in a stage relates to the pressure drop in the pipes, which in turn affects the centrifuges’ separative power. It estimates the local operating conditions, checks them against the mass balances in the pipes and, then, calculates the separative performance of the centrifuges. Results were presented for a stage with 40 generic centrifuges. There was a sharp pressure drop in the extremities of the stage that caused roughly 15% and 30% pressure loss in the feed and product pipes, respectively, which caused the last centrifuge to yield a separative power 14% lower than the first one.