Question

Which of the following is used in uranium enrichment?

(a) Tubular centrifuge

(b) Disk-stack centrifuge

(c) Gas centrifuge

(d) Zippe-type centrifuge

This question was posed to me in examination.

I'd like to ask this question from Centrifugation topic in chapter Unit Operations of Bioprocess Engineering

Answer 1

Correct answer is (c) Gas centrifuge

For explanation: Gas centrifuges are used in uranium enrichment. The heavier isotope of uranium (uranium-238) in the uranium hexafluoride gas tends to concentrate at the walls of the centrifuge as it spins, while the desired uranium-235 isotope is extracted and concentrated with a scoop selectively placed inside the centrifuge. It takes many thousands of centrifugations to enrich uranium enough for use in a nuclear reactor (around 3.5% enrichment), and many thousands more to enrich it to weapons-grade (above 90% enrichment) for use in nuclear weapons.