Market of stable isotopes produced by gas centrifuges: status and prospects

The major consumers on the market of enriched stable isotopes traditionally include nuclear industry, medicine and life sciences, and new technical and scientific applications. The beginning of new millennium has brought the wide application of enriched stable isotopes in fundamental physics experiments that needed tens and hundreds kilograms of various stable isotopes of middle and heavy masses. In addition, the needs of nuclear power industry to develop materials to be used in nuclear power plants capable to reduce formation of radioactive by-products and to prevent cracking in certain metallic components led to production of big amounts of different compounds of zinc depleted with the 64Zn isotope. All these problems have been solved successfully by means of the gas centrifuge technology applied for separation of isotopes other than uranium. As a result the market of enriched/depleted stable isotopes has changed radically in recent years. (authors)