An enrichment plant produces uranium at uranium-235 from natural feed at
PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Nuclear Physics · Fission, fusion and nuclear energy · Fission, fusion and nuclear energy
Energy from Physics, Ch Running a reactor: kinetics, heat removal, feedback, burn-up and the fuel cycle
Problem
An enrichment plant produces uranium at xp=3.5% uranium-235 from natural feed at xf=0.711%, discarding tails at xt=0.20%. The value function is V(x)=(2x−1)ln[x/(1−x)], and the separative work per unit product mass is W/P=V(xp)+(T/P)V(xt)−(F/P)V(xf), where F, P and T are feed, product and tails masses.
((a)) Find the feed mass required per kilogram of product, F/P.
((b)) Find the separative work per kilogram of product, in SWU (kilogram separative work units).