Abstract: A method of separating light hydrogen and deuterium which makes use of the differential reaction rates of alkali metal amalgams with water containing light hydrogen and water containing deuterium. Hydrogen is evolved and the remaining solution of the alkali metal hydroxide is enriched in deuterium. The foregoing described process is repeated in a plurality of stages in order to provide further enriched deuterium containing water. In addition, the process relates to a concurrent process for the separation of lithium-6 from lithium-7 and for the separation of deuterium from light hydrogen. In the concurrent process a lithium hydroxide solution is partially electrolized to provide a lithium amalgam enriched in lithium-6 and the lithium-6 enriched amalgam is reacted with water to provide a lithium hydroxide solution which is enriched in deuterium in the form of LiOD, HDO and to some extent D.sub.2 O.

Abstract: A multipole magnetic well for plasma confinement includes a plurality of current-carrying coils placed on planes corresponding to the facets of a regular polyhedron that can be symmetrically circumscribed about a sphere. The direction of current in the coils is such as to minimize the flux density at the center of the polyhedron, thereby providing a confinement well with three-dimensional symmetry having an increasing flux density in all directions from the center.