The improved isotope separator comprises a vacuum vessel, a plasma generator located substantially in the center of the vacuum vessel, an electrode bounded by a hyperboloid of one sheet and a pair of electrodes bounded by a hyperboloid of two sheets, said electrodes being located within the vacuum vessel in such a way as to surround the plasma generator, a power source for supplying said electrodes with a fixed voltage and a pulsating voltage, and magnetic field generating means located outside the vacuum vessel. The apparatus is implemented by a method for isotope separation that achieves high separation factor per stage (process), that enables the process throughput to be increased with ease and which yet is applicable to the isotopic separation of many elements.
A filter and a method for separating ions in a partially ionized plasma according to their mass includes a chamber with crossed electric and magnetic fields established therein. A feed, including metal atoms having ionization potentials in a low range, and gas atoms having an ionization potential in a high range, is introduced into the chamber. An electron temperature below the low range is generated to partially ionize the feed by dissociating the metal atoms from the gas atoms, and by ionizing the metal atoms into light and heavy ions according to their mass to charge ratio. The light and heavy ions are then influenced by the crossed electric and magnetic fields to separate the light ions from the heavy ions.
A device for separating high mass to charge particles (M.sub.1) from low mass to charge particles (M.sub.2) in a plasma includes a cylindrical wall that surrounds a chamber and defines an axis. Rectangular shaped coils are mounted on the wall to establish a magnetic field, B.sub.0, in the chamber that is aligned substantially perpendicular to the axis and which rotates about the axis. Circularly shaped coils are provided to generate a time-constant, axially aligned magnetic field, B.sub.z, in the chamber. Passive, ring-shaped electrodes are positioned at the ends of the wall and connected to resistors which are then grounded. The rotating magnetic field, B.sub.0, rotates the plasma in the axially aligned magnetic field, B.sub.z, which in turn, induces a radially oriented electric field, E.sub.r, in the chamber. The crossed fields (i.e. E.sub.r.times.B.sub.z) cause the particles, M.sub.1, to strike the wall while the particles, M.sub.2, transit through the chamber.
A method and system for separating radioactive waste containing volatiles, into light ions and heavy ions, includes a loader/transporter for transferring the waste into a high vacuum environment in the chamber of a plasma processor. During this transfer, gases of the volatiles are released from the waste, collected in a holding tank, and subsequently ionized in the chamber. As the volatiles are ionized, the ions are directed by a magnetic field into contact with the waste to vaporize the waste. The waste vapors are then ionized in the plasma processor chamber to create a multi-species plasma which includes electrons, light ions and heavy ions. Within the chamber, the density of the multi-species plasma is established to be above its collision density in order to establish a substantially uniform velocity for all ions in the plasma. A nozzle accelerates the multi-species plasma to generate a fluid stream which is directed from the chamber toward an inertial separator. A magnetic field in the inertial separator effectively blocks electrons in the stream from entering the separator. On the other hand, the inertia of the various ions in the stream carry them into the separator where they are segregated into light ions and heavy ions according to their atomic weights. After segregation, the heavy ions are vitrified for subsequent disposal.
