Great, long-running topic!
I'm intrigued with heavy water too because of this post:
http://groups.google.com/group/can.general/msg/bcbbf27e09c8cc2e?pli=1
It's a story (anonymous, for reasons which will be obvious) about a man who claims to have made his own heavy water reactor. Gosh! If he can to it, why can't we have one in every county? And stop worrying about heating and AC bills, for starters! Everyman a part-time nuclear power plant operator.
Another video (this one more credible -- an MIT free-course lecture) says that the biggest expense in heavy water reactors is the cost of the heavy water -- $1billion plus. (????)
(Heavy water is discussed around minute 10, but the whole lecture is fascinating).Question for the group: can you use the lower Freezing temperature of D2O to extract it from regular water? Freeze half the container, draw off the (presumably) higher D2O water, repeat.
For extra credit, how about centrifuging the water while freezing?
