Kenneth Fletcher
NS&D Monitor
2/28/2014
In a another step in a proposal to construct a new laser enrichment plant at the Paducah site, Global Laser Enrichment intends to submit a license application by September to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company told the NRC last week. “GLE expects to submit the license application for the [Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility] by September 2014 and requests NRC review and approval by November 2016 to support the project schedule,” GLE President Chris Monetta wrote in a Feb. 20 letter of intent to the NRC posted publicly this week. The application could face scrutiny from nonproliferation advocates—GLE’s license for another plant in North Carolina was challenged on nonproliferation grounds.
The Department of Energy announced late last year that it would enter into negotiations with GLE for the sale of a portion of its depleted uranium tails stockpile in response to a request for offers DOE released last year for the material at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. GLE, a subsidiary of GE-Hitachi, is proposing building a plant at the Paducah site that would use a laser technology developed by the Australian firm SILEX to enrich the tails up to natural uranium levels. The company this week declined to provide details on how the plant would be financed. “Negotiations with DOE are ongoing (given that, it would not be appropriate to discuss financials at this time). The dates in the letter provide notice to the NRC of potential timing based on the discussions to date,” GLE spokesman Jon Allen said in a written response.
In September 2012, nearly two years after the petition was submitted, the NRC issued a license to GLE for construction and operation of a proposed enrichment plant in North Carolina that would use Silex laser enrichment technology. The proliferation potential of the separation of isotopes by laser excitation technology proposed by GE-Hitachi has been a subject of concern for nonproliferation advocates, who say the technology is well suited for highly enriched uranium production for nuclear weapons. Weeks before the NRC approved the application, a group of 19 individuals and organizations unsuccessfully called on the NRC to undertake a formal nuclear proliferation assessment before granting a license.
