Ann: Operational Update - 25 August 2022, page-28

It goes on to say (and the part you guys should be interested in) that it's open to public petition until March... the final decision another year.

Perhaps I should say do your own research.

"Proliferation risks from laser enrichment technology exceed benefits, scientists sayThe US Congress should take the lead on discouraging efforts to advance uranium-enrichment technology, argueFrancis SlakeyandLinda R. Cohenin an Opinion piece in this week's Nature. They believe that the newest laser enrichment technology - called separation of isotopes by laser excitation (SILEX) - offers more potential risks than benefits. It is not critical for expansion of the nuclear power industry today, or in a future where greenhouse-gas emissions are tightly capped and the nuclear industry favoured. Capital costs and regulatory policies will determine the size of that industry. "Rather, the development and potential risk of misappropriation of an enrichment facility too small and efficient to be detected could be a game changer for further nuclear proliferation," say the duo.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering an application to operate a full-scale commercial SILEX plant in North Carolina; this is open to public petition until 15 March. A final decision is expected to take at least another year. Slakey and Cohen urge Congress to require that proliferation risks be evaluated as part of the NRC licensing process, starting with the SILEX application. If the proliferation risks of such technologies beyond the licensee's control are deemed too high, requested users should not be licensed, they say. Such a barrier would discourage commercial research and development in this area."