Tube Alloys - Isotopic Separation

Isotopic Separation

The biggest problem faced by the MAUD Committee was to find a way to separate the 0.7% of uranium-235 from the 99.3% of uranium-238. This is difficult because the two types of uranium are chemically identical. However, Franz Simon had been commissioned by MAUD to investigate methods. Simon reported in December 1940 that gaseous diffusion was feasible, calculating the size and cost of the industrial plant needed. The MAUD Committee realized that an atomic bomb was "not just feasible; it was inevitable".

The chemical problems of producing gaseous compounds of uranium and pure uranium metal were studied at the University of Birmingham and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Very early experiments were carried out by Michael Clapham - who at the time was working on print technology at the Kynoch Works in Aston in Birmingham according to and interview he gave to a BBC documentary broadcast In Feb 2000 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/643913.stm) ’Dr Philip Baxter at ICI made the first small batch of gaseous uranium hexafluoride for Professor James Chadwick in 1940. ICI received a formal contract later in 1940 to make 3 kg of this vital material for the future work. The prototype gaseous diffusion equipment itself was manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers (MetroVick) at Trafford Park, Manchester, at a cost of £150,000 for four units. Some of the Tube Alloys secret development work was carried out by Britain's Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) based at Billingham, Northeast England. Evidence in a TV programme transmitted by Tyne Tees Television (Northern Life) established a connection between work carried out at ICI and nuclear material.