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Helikon vortex separation process
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<p>The Helikon vortex separation process is an aerodynamic <a href="/facts/Enriched_uranium/vSb2Tcsb">uranium enrichment</a> process designed around a device called a <a href="/facts/Vortex_tube/y13t6uMh">vortex tube</a>. <a href="/facts/Paul_Dirac/6bt5yRdk">Paul Dirac</a> thought of the idea for isotope separation and tried creating such a device in 1934 in the lab of <a href="/facts/Peter_Kapitza/xhHdzHBd">Peter Kapitza</a> at Cambridge. Other methods of separation were more practical at that time, but this method was designed and used in <a href="/facts/South_Africa/vvXQpLgq">South Africa</a> for producing reactor fuel with a <a href="/facts/Uranium-235/pe0RznDM">uranium-235</a> content of around 3–5%, and 80–93% enriched uranium for use in <a href="/facts/South_Africa_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction/IWTNrDDH">nuclear weapons</a>. <a href="/facts/NECSA/R1WXnnso">The Uranium Enrichment Corporation of South Africa, Ltd.</a> (UCOR) developed the process, operating a facility at <a href="/facts/Pelindaba/RSfyVQpv">Pelindaba</a> (known as the 'Y' plant) to produce hundreds of kilograms of <a href="/facts/Enriched_uranium/vSb2Tcsb">HEU</a>. Aerodynamic enrichment processes require large amounts of electricity and are not generally considered economically competitive because of high energy consumption and substantial requirements for removal of <a href="/facts/Waste_heat/nGBH1Vc8">waste heat</a>. There are other ways in which it is advantageous, e.g. In simplicity, lack of precision required, even if more expensive. The South African enrichment plant was closed on 1 February 1990.: 103 </p>