Silex Systems buys land for uranium enrichment plant

Laser uranium enrichment company Silex Systems has taken a step closer to producing uranium fuels needed for small modular reactors (SMRs) at its facilities in the United States.

The company’s 51 percent owned Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE) has acquired a 665-acre parcel of land for the company’s planned Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF), in Kentucky.

The site is located adjacent the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), which was shut down in 2013 leaving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF6) tails inventories in storage.

Silex has rights to reprocess spent nuclear material in the United States, with its technologies said to be suited to producing uranium fuels needed for small modular reactors (SMRs).

And Silex has built and tested at its Lucas Heights nuclear technology complex in Sydney the first full scale laser system module needed to enrich uranium using the Silex laser enrichment process.

Silex’s CEO/Managing Director Michael Goldsworthy said: “The acquisition of the PLEF site is the result of several years of dedicated efforts from the GLE team along with considerable support from the community of Paducah and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

“The location of GLE’s site adjacent to the PGDP is an important outcome in relation to the 2016 agreement between GLE and the DOE, under which GLE will acquire over 200,000 metric tonnes of the depleted tails inventories, underpinning GLE’s PLEF project opportunities.

“GLE plans to use this material as feedstock for the production of natural grade uranium hexafluoride (UF6) using the SILEX laser enrichment technology for up to 30 years.

“The anticipated production rate will be equivalent to a uranium mine with an annual output of up to 5 million pounds of uranium, which would rank in the top 10 of today’s uranium mines by production volume.”

The site that GLE has acquired provides access to the cylinder yards where the tails inventories are stored, minimising transportation costs.

GLE has been assessing the site for several months and performing geotechnical analysis in support of its pending licence application and environmental report submissions to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

GLE is currently on track to submit the environmental report in December 2024 and licence application in mid-2025.

GLE’s CEO Stephen Long said: “We greatly appreciate the collaborative efforts of our community and state partners in Kentucky that have been instrumental in finalising this land acquisition.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with the Commonwealth of Kentucky as we work towards a commercialisation decision and maintaining our deployment target of no later than 2030.”

The terms of the site acquisition are confidential, however Silex’s 51 percent contribution to the purchase price is not material to the company.

Further reading:
Silex Systems raises $120 million for uranium enrichment
Silex eyes US nuclear fuel market

Picture: Silex Systems/GLE/Planned PLEF site adjacent to PGDP