Patent ID: 7427386

Claim:
A process for enriching a uranium containing feed material, the process comprising: contacting the uranium containing feed material with fluorine gas in a fluorine gas and uranium containing feed material contact stage, the fluorine gas reacting with the uranium containing feed material to give uranium fluoride; introducing the uranium fluoride to a separator stage, the separator stage converting the uranium fluoride into a plasma and/or ionized form, at least part of the uranium being ionized and at least part of the fluorine gas being non-ionized, the ionized part being contained in a magnetic field to form a first product stream, the non-ionized part being withdrawn from the magnetic field to form a second product stream; feeding the first product stream to an enrichment stage, the enrichment stage applying one or more frequencies of electromagnetic radiation to the first product stream, the one or more frequencies being chosen to selectively ionize one or more components of the first product stream to give selectively ionized components and selectively non-ionized components, the selectively ionized components being separated from the selectively non-ionized components to form third and fourth product streams, respectively; and recycling the second product stream to the fluorine gas and uranium containing feed material contact stage.