Sources of separated isotopes for nuclear targetry

The historical use of enriched isotopes in the preparation of targets is diagrammed. Various methods of enriching isotopes are briefly outlined, including the advantages and disadvantages of each. Electromagnetic isotope separation provides the single largest source of enriched isotopes, but is characterized by large separation factors, but relatively low throughput of material. Gas-phase thermal diffusion, distillation, and laser isotope separation provide large throughput, but significantly smaller separation factors. Marginal other methods which have been used are briefly summarized