The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed an inspection of Global Laser Enrichment’s (GLE) test loop pilot demonstration facility and operational safety programmes, providing the approval for GLE to load uranium hexafluoride (UF6) feed material in preparation for the start of commercial-scale pilot demonstration enrichment testing.

GLE, based in Wilmington, North Carolina, is the exclusive licensee of the laser-based Silex uranium enrichment technology invented and originally developed by Silex in Sydney, Australia.

Silex says the technology is “the future of uranium enrichment”. It is a laser-based process that is said to have a number of advantages over other uranium enrichment processes including higher efficiency, lower costs and greater flexibility in producing advanced fuels for advanced small modular reactors.