I don't think the French — les capacités d'enrichissement d'uranium sont exponentielles is scientifically correct, or, at best, it is poorly worded. The process of enrichment, not the capacity, is exponential, i.e. enriching uranium from 1 to 2% U-235 (double) takes the same amount of work (and time) as enriching the 2% product so obtained to 4%, and so on from 4 to 8, 8 to 16, 16 to 32% etc.


so "Uranium enrichment is an exponential process"

"The EXPONENTIAL LAW FOR ENRICHMENT is that doubling the percentage of U-235 requires the same amount of effort regardless how much there already is. Getting from 20% to 40% is just as hard as getting from 1% to 2%."

"ENRICHING URANIUM IS AN EXPONENTIAL PROCESS, and when Iran began enriching to 20 percent this set off warning signs as this would increase Iran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon"

"EXPONENTIAL PROCESS – going from 0.7% U-235 to 4.5% is ~ 2/3 of the work of making 90% U-235"

"URANIUM ENRICHMENT IS AN EXPONENTIAL PROCESS, so once centrifuges have increased the 0.7 percent U-235 that comes out of the ground to the ..."

But the play's 'uranium enrichment capacities are exponential' is probably suitably ... er, dramatic to be an appropriate translation and if the set wobbles or the lights flicker at that point, nobody, even the most astute nuclear engineer will notice or give a hoot.


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Note added at 57 mins (2023-01-11 17:00:20 GMT)
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If we consider that weapons-grade uranium starts at 60% (90% is ideal), it takes only one more step after the 5 steps (1-2, 2-4, 4-8, 8-16, 16-32) presented above, these steps being mere approximations since the natural U-235 content of uranium is about 0.7%.

Profile of World Uranium Enrichment Programs-2009
Federation Of American Scientists ·
https://nuke.fas.org › ...
PDF
by MD Laughter · 2009 · Cited by 13 — Uranium enrichment capacity has continued to expand on all fronts in the last ... exponentially increase, resulting in a nuclear explosion.

The effort required to enrich uranium is increasing exponentially.
See discussion.

Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, uranium-235 (U-235, fissile) at 0.7 % and uranium-238 (U-238, non fissile) at 99.3 %. U-238 does not contribute directly to the fission process (though it does so indirectly by the formation of fissile isotopes of plutonium 239). Because of the small percentage of fissile material in the natural uranium, and in order to obtain suitable nuclear fuel for the pressurised water reactors (PWR, the majority in Europe), it is necessary to increase the concentration (‘enrich’) of the U-235 isotope from 0.7 % to 3-5 %.
:
The standard measure, the "separative work unit", is the effort required to separate isotopes of uranium (U235 and U238) in the enrichment process: 1 tSWU is equivalent to 1 tonne of separative work units (tSWU).
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

Separative work unit, abbreviated as SWU, is the standard measure of the effort required to separate isotopes of uranium (U235 and U238) during an enrichment process in nuclear facilities.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

capacité can, amongs many other things (1,470 IATE entries), mean competence or capability.

I agree with discussion entries of the sentence making little sense, even in context.

Note that it is the capabilities, rather than the enrichment levels, that are 'exponential' or can increase exponentially as in exponential growth or factor.

Perhaps we should assume that the French-speaking playwright is qualified in nuclear physics.

French term (edited): les capacités d\'enrichissement d\'uranium sont exponentielles

It makes ***perfect*** sense if you interpret "les capacités" as a shortcut for "les capacités requises.

A nuclear engineer talking about enriched uranium? Unless it's a totally incompetent one that by some miracle is still in the profession, I wouldn't jump so quickly on assumptions of the "that's just meaningless twaddle" kind.

What is the case here, as it happens often with specialised jargon, is that experts often abbreviate what they are saying to the point that it sounds absurd without the omitted parts.

"Vous savez que les capacités d'enrichissement d'uranium sont exponentielles...."
=
"Vous savez que les capacités d'enrichissement d'uranium requises sont exponentielles [par rapport à la concentration de U235 à obtenir.....]"

IOW

"Vous savez que les capacités d'enrichissement d'uranium sont exponentielles. Nous produisons de l'uranium légèrement à faiblement enrichi en restant sous les seuils de 10% d'uranium 235."

in effect means

As you know the required processing capacities increase exponentially [with the purity of U235 required]. We make lightly to low enriched uranium ... (meaning implicitly: we don't need huge processing capacities to get that level of enrichment).