Comparison of four strategies for separation of stable isotopes of iridium element by gas centrifugation method

This article presents four strategies for separating two stable isotopes of iridium with 99.9% purity. The cascades employed are tapered, square, and squared-off. To design and optimize these cascades, four computational codes were developed using the PSO algorithm. The findings indicate: (1) The tapered cascade strategy cannot achieve 99.90% separation for either type of centrifuge; (2) For the first centrifuge, both square and squared-off cascades strategy successfully separate the isotopes, achieving 99.90% purity, with recovery percentages of ¹⁹¹Ir and ¹⁹³Ir at 99% and 33%, respectively; (3) For the second centrifuge, only the square cascade strategy achieves 99.90% separation, with recovery percentages of approximately 99% for both isotopes.