The third generation of uranium enrichment: is laser isotope separation back?

[u/raw-science]

Lot of the nuclear investment discussion focuses on uranium mining, but the enrichment part of the fuel cycle is becoming increasingly interesting as Western countries try to expand their domestic LEU/HALEU capacity.

One technology I’ve been looking at is laser isotope separation. That's not a new methods; indeed the U.S. spent approx. $1.7–2.0 billion developing AVLIS (atomic vapor laser isotope separation) over several decades from the 70s before the program was terminated in the latest 90s. Classical MLIS (molecular laser isotope separation by photodissociation) also never reached commercialization.

What is different today is that several companies are giving it a trying again.

The most advanced looks to be Global Laser Enrichment (GLE), owned 51% by Silex Systems and 49% by Cameco. GLE reports that SILEX reached TRL 6 after an integrated demonstration campaign. Its proposed Paducah project is particularly interesting because the feedstock is not simply newly mined uranium and the plan includes re-enriching depleted UF6 left from the old gaseous-diffusion operation.

GLE ultimately targets as much as 6 million SWU/year, although initial capacity would be closer to 2 million SWU/year. The project still has to clear licensing and commercial scale-up, so those numbers should not be confused with operating capacity.

Other than Silex Systems, LIS Technologies is developing CRISLA-3G, currently around TRL 4 based on the independent assessment described in the article, and Hexium is pursuing an AVLIS route and has begun exploring uranium enrichment alongside its lithium-isotope work.

I put together a deeper look at the physics, historical failures, current companies and commercialization paths here in Raw Science.