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Nuclear Safeguards Education Portal

Enrichment plant (or isotope separation plant)

An installation for the separation of isotopes of uranium to increase the abundance of 235U. The main isotope separation processes used in enrichment plants are gas centrifuge or gaseous diffusion processes operating with uranium hexafluoride (UF6) (which is also the feed material for aerodynamic and molecular laser processes). Other isotope separation processes include electromagnetic, chemical exchange, ion exchange, and atomic vapour laser and plasma processes.