Menu

The Research Centre for Light Stable Isotopes – CCISU is an INCDTIM entity included in the list of Facilities and Objects of National Interest – IOSIN.

The CCISU incorporates specific technological facilities for isotopic separations, a laboratory for the synthesis of 2H, 13C, 15N and 18O labeled compounds and high-tech equipment for isotopic analysis and diagnostics, supporting research and development in strategic areas such as energy, environment, health, biotechnologies, advanced materials, food safety, innovative processes and products. CCISU’s main mission is to exploit results in the field of isotope separation/enrichment, isotope labeling and isotope analytical techniques, by developing them for market supply in the form of high-tech services/products, CCISU can respond to the increasing challenges in the above-mentioned fields. CCISU research is mainly related to the development of new concepts in the field of isotope technologies and their practical exploitation.

Concerns with stable isotope separation at INCDTIM began in the 1960s with a national first approach to hydrogen isotope separation to determine the technology for separating heavy water, a nuclear and strategic material of great importance. The research carried out here led to the design and construction of the production pilot plant in Râmnicu-Vâlcea and subsequently to the construction of the Drobeta-Turnu Severin Heavy Water Plant.

The group specialized in isotope technologies has successively dealt with the separation of lithium, boron, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, argon, krypton, and neon isotopes by different methods: chemical exchange, cryogenic distillation, and thermodiffusion.

In parallel, the specialists from CCISU have developed techniques and technologies for the production of organic and inorganic compounds labeled with isotopes of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen, as well as the labeling of amino acids and complex organic molecules.