uranium hexafluoride
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coordination compounds
- In coordination compound: Characteristics of coordination compounds
…molecules is uranium(+6) fluoride, or uranium hexafluoride (UF6). The structural formula of the compound represents the actual arrangement of atoms in the molecules:
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isotopic enrichment
- In uranium processing: Conversion and isotopic enrichment
…with fluorine gas to volatile uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which is fractionally distilled to produce high-purity feedstock for isotopic enrichment. Any of several methods—gaseous diffusion, gas centrifugation, liquid thermal diffusion—can be employed to separate and concentrate the fissile uranium-235 isotope into several grades, from low-enrichment (2 to 3 percent uranium-235) to…
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nuclear reactor fuel processing
- In fluorine: Production and use
…for the preparation of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), utilized in the gaseous diffusion process of separating uranium-235 from uranium-238 for reactor fuel. Hydrogen fluoride and boron trifluoride (BF3) are produced commercially because they are good catalysts for the alkylation reactions used to prepare organic compounds of many kinds. Sodium fluoride is…
Read More - In nuclear reactor: Enrichment
…uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), a product of chemical conversion, is encouraged (through a mechanical process) to seep through a porous barrier. The molecules of 235UF6 penetrate the barrier slightly faster than those of 238UF6. Since the percentage of 235U increases by only a very small…
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