Commercial Materials
To date, large-scale commercial isotope separation of only three elements has occurred. In each case, the rarer of the two most common isotopes of an element has been concentrated for use in nuclear technology:
- Uranium isotopes have been separated to prepare enriched uranium for use as nuclear reactor fuel and in nuclear weapons.
- Hydrogen isotopes have been separated to prepare heavy water for use as a moderator in nuclear reactors.
- Lithium-6 has been concentrated for use in thermonuclear weapons.
Some isotopically purified elements are used in smaller quantities for specialist applications, especially in the semiconductor industry, where purified silicon is used to improve crystal structure and thermal conductivity.
Isotope separation is an important process for both peaceful and military nuclear technology, and therefore the capability that a nation has for isotope separation is of extreme interest to the intelligence community.
Read more about this topic: Isotope Separation
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