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The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. "Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project" |
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Manhattan Project History
Early Government Support
Isotope Separation - Liquid Thermal Diffusion
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Philip Abelson - Carnegie Institute |
The Uranium Committee briefly demonstrated an interest in a fourth enrichment process during 1940, only to conclude that it would not be worth pursuing. This process, liquid thermal diffusion, was being investigated by Philip Abelson at the Carnegie Institute. Into the space between two concentric vertical pipes Abelson placed pressurized liquid uranium hexafluoride. With the outer wall cooled by a circulating water jacket and the inner wall heated by high-pressure steam, the lighter U235 isotope tended to concentrate near the hot wall and the heavier U238 near the cold. Convection would in time carry the lighter isotope to the top of the column where it could be drawn off. Taller columns would produce more separation. Like other enrichment methods, liquid thermal diffusion was at an early stage in 1940. Abelson eventually relocated his experimentation to the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. whereupon money was obtained to construct a pilot plant at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The process was subsequently improved and led to the design and construction of the large S-50 plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. |
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