[TomB]

Here's a question that escapes me. At the start of the Manhattan Project they were looking at three ways of enriching Uranium; centrifuge, gas diffusion, and one other. I can't recall the third method. Anyone remember? And are any of the other enrichment methods still viable?

[HassanBenSobar]

ion separation w/big magnets. All are feasible but there are tradeoffs. Best way to go is gas diffusion, but fortunately, that's hard to do, and the Iraqis, at least til the mid-nineties, simply couldn't figure it out. See 'Saddam's Bombmaker' by Khidhir Hamza. Every Freeper should read it.

[Right Wing Professor]

There's a device called the calutron, which is in effect a mass spectrometer; it takes atomic or molecular ions of the fissile material and propels them in a vacuum through a magnetic field. Because the heavier ions have a little more momentum, they're deflected slightly less. Because it separates isotopes atom by atom, it's very inefficient, but Oak Ridge were using it to separate some isotopes until at least 10 years ago. I think I read somewhere it dates back to the Manhattan project days.

[null and void]

three ways of enriching Uranium; centrifuge, gas diffusion, and one other. I can't recall the third method.

A modified mass spectrometer.