Investigation of Tungsten-182 Isotope Separation Considering Air Leakage into Square Separation Cascades

A key challenge in stable isotope separation is achieving the target isotope at the desired maximum concentration. The proper design of separation cascades and understanding their operational behavior are therefore essential. Since most isotope separation cascades operate under vacuum, air leakage—though preventable in well‑sealed systems—can significantly affect the isotopic purity of products such as ¹⁸²W. In this study, a MATLAB code was developed to simulate a square separation cascade incorporating air leakage. The analysis focused on ¹⁸²W as the target isotope in cascades with 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 stages, and for leakage rates of 0, 10⁻⁵, 10⁻⁴, and 10⁻³ mg/s. Results show that increasing the number of stages leads to more air ingress, reducing the enrichment of the target isotope in the product (light) stream. Moreover, the leakage coefficient reduces cascade recovery by lowering the depletion in the waste (heavy) stream. For example, increasing stages from 20 to 40 decreases the recovery factor from 99% to 81% under no leakage, while at a leakage coefficient of 10⁻³, recovery drops from 98.9% to 79%. In long cascades, although enrichment approaches completion, the recovery factor becomes nearly independent of the leakage magnitude, unlike in shorter cascades.