Multicomponent isotope separation in matched abundance ratio cascades composed of stages with large separation factors

The concept of the matched abundance ratio cascade and the system of equations for performing multicomponent productivity calculations upon them has proven extremely useful for analyzing the behavior of gaseous diffusion plants in which the stage separation factors are very nearly equal to unity. Recent interest in the gas centrifuge process, in which the separation factor of a single centrifuge can be relatively large, makes desirable the extension of the theory of the matched abundance ratio cascade to cascades composed of stages with large separation factors. Equations permit the calculation of the productivity for simple cascades composed of stages with large separation factors. The concentration gradient of each of the isotopic species present can be calculated and the cascade description can be determined. An illustrative example dealing with the separation of the isotopes of tungsten in a cascade composed of gas centrifuges is included