On the Concept of Plasma Mass-Separation in Crossed E × B Fields with a Potential Well (a Review)

Abstract

One of the relevant tasks of nuclear power industry is the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Such processing implies the separation of actinides from uranium fission products. One of the processing methods can be plasma mass separation. In the last 10 years, research aimed at the development of various aspects related to plasma mass separation has been actively conducted at the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article provides an overview of the main results of these studies in four areas: numerical calculations and analysis of separation schemes; generation of background plasma and formation of plasma potential distribution; plasma source for injection of a mixture of separated substances; and demonstration of the model substances separation.