The influence of sparring on the attainalbe isotopic enrichment in electromagnetic isotope separation

By exploiting the advanced virtual object mode of operation of an electromagnetic isotope separator, isotopic enrichments of over 7000 are obtained in a single run, for a single mass difference at M = 124. At such high enrichments, sparking (i.e. shorting of the source high voltage) at a rate of approximately 5-10 times per hour may be one of the remaining significant contaminating phenomena. The influence of sparking on the attainable isotopic enrichment is assessed by recording the pocket currents and the high voltage as a function of time during discharges and entering the quantitative results into relations connecting the various contributing parameters. (orig.)