Laser enrichment for nuclear fuel moves toward commercial testing as West seeks Russian uranium alternatives

Global Laser Enrichment is testing laser-based uranium enrichment at commercial scale in Kentucky, while LIS Technologies plans a facility in Tennessee, as Western nations seek alternatives to Russian uranium imports.

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Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) has begun commercial-scale testing of a laser-based uranium enrichment process at its Paducah, Kentucky site. The company is working under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to reprocess waste material stored at the former enrichment facility, which holds thousands of cylinders of depleted uranium.

The technology uses lasers to selectively excite uranium-235 molecules, enabling their separation from the far more abundant uranium-238. While the specific details of GLE's method remain classified, the approach could offer a more compact alternative to centrifuge cascades, which currently dominate the enrichment industry. Stephen Long, GLE's CEO, said each laser unit is more complex and expensive than a centrifuge, but a full-scale plant would need fewer than a thousand units, compared to many thousands of centrifuges.

GLE's contract with the DOE covers reprocessing up to 200,000 metric tons of waste material. The feedstock contains at least 0.25% U-235, and GLE aims to enrich it to about 0.7%, the same concentration as natural uranium ore. Nima Ashkeboussi, GLE vice president, described the waste as "kind of like a large aboveground uranium mine for us."

Nuclear power currently supplies roughly 9% of global electricity. Conventional reactors use low-enriched uranium, typically around 5% U-235, while advanced designs require concentrations up to 20%. Historically, Russia dominated the uranium enrichment market, but the war in Ukraine prompted the U.S. and UK to take steps to limit or ban imports of Russian uranium, creating an opening for new enrichment technologies.

Charles Forsberg, a principal research scientist at MIT, noted that early lasers were high-maintenance and unstable, but improvements have made laser enrichment more attractive. "Nobody in the West was going to build a new enrichment plant while the Russians flooded the world with enriched uranium," Forsberg said.

Another company, LIS Technologies, is also pursuing laser enrichment. Founded in 2023, the firm recently bought a 200-acre site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and has begun the pre-application process with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Christo Liebenberg, the company's president, said demand for fuel is increasing as countries look beyond Russia for supply and described laser enrichment as "right in the middle" of the solution. LIS Technologies plans to enrich natural uranium to around 5% U-235, and eventually hopes to produce higher concentrations for next-generation reactors.

Both GLE and LIS Technologies face significant hurdles. Neither has yet demonstrated laser enrichment at commercial scale, and the technology's economics remain unproven. The Paducah testing represents a critical step toward proving whether lasers can provide a viable pathway to reduce Western dependence on Russian uranium.