Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is a chemical compound of uranium that consists of one uranium atom and six fluorine atoms. It is a key material in the process of enriching uranium, which is essential for producing nuclear fuel for reactors and for developing nuclear weapons. UF6 is unique among uranium compounds because it is a gas at relatively high temperatures (above about 56.
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The main reason for this is that fluorine only has one stable isotope, which allows you to pick up weight differences in uranium isotopes in isolation.
Ball model of uranium hexafluoride
. Source. Hex sublimates at around 56.5 °C at so it can be converted to a gas relatively easily. It is then in its gas form that it is used for uranium enrichment
