Ann: SILEX Uranium Enrichment Project Update, page-10

Nowclear - I think it means that I was likely wrong (in my last response to rrguy) to speculate that they had moved on to semi-conductor lasers. It would appear that (as speculated by Snyder (at https://scienceandglobalsecurity.org/archive/sgs24snyder.pdf) that they still operate with multiple (they call them "sub-lasers") multiplexed high powered lasers whereby a consolidated beam is produced using a rotating mirror. I speculated in my response to rrguy that they had moved on to semi-conductor lasers with a consolidation mechanism similar to that used in welding machines to increase the power of the beam - it would appear that they have not moved on to this development (as yet). It would appear to me that they are still working with pulsed TEA lasers (as Snyder thought they did for the test loop in 2008/12). Reading between the lines the timing of the rotating mirror (required to consolidate the individual pulsed - sub-lasers) and insuring that the frequency of all the lasers was identical at the v3 resonance (just below 16 microns) on ²³⁵UF₆ is a challenge.

It would appear that the Beam Control System (BCS) has been the breakthrough required to ensure that all the sub laser beams combine (possibly with Raman shifter) at the ²³⁵UF₆ v3 frequency to produce a consolidated infrared beam to split the dimers passing through the ²³⁵UF6/carrier gas in the separator. The BCS may also have the of incorporating redundant sub lasers such that failure to improve the reliability of the whole assembly. I saw this as a major potential issue - a popular solution is to build in redundancy so that failure of one (or more) sub-system (s) does not lead to failure of the whole assembly and allows subsystems to be maintained whilst the assembly is running (the statement "The BCS is a unique state-of-the-art fully automated industrial-grade controlsystem which aims to enable reliable 24/7 operation of the commercial plant laser system" would appear to endorse my assumption) on redundancy being in built and that they still operate with multiplexed CO₂ TEA sub lasers. Please note that I am only speculating on the set up, Snyder may have more insight than me on this issue (he is a Physicist - I'm an Engineer). It would appear that reliability issues have been addressed with the BCS as well as ensuring that a consolidated infrared beam at the correct v3 frequency and power is applied to the separator. I would guess that development of a successful BCS is also a barrier to potential proliferators and/or competition,