Scagg - Cameco can't buy more than 5% of Silex (thus slightly...

Scagg - Cameco can't buy more than 5% of Silex (thus slightly less than 2.5% of GLE) without issuing a "significant shareholder notice" through the ASX and therefore this strategy becoming obvious to all. If we get such a notice then it would be a significant boost to the share price since it would provide tangible evidence that Cameco are about to take up the 26% option in GLE.

Regarding the TRL/6 tests it would (particularly after the previous test at GEH around 2009 - 13 period) for the current tests to be a go or no go position. If my conjecture is correct then the 2009/13 tests were with the High Pressure CO₂ lasers and Raman shifter (and rotating mirror) technology. MG said that (at least those lasers) were scrapped in 2016/17; this leads me to think that they are:

- now testing with an array (to get about 25 watts - possibly with the assistance of "optical amplifiers") of Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCL's) (possibly synchronized at both end of the irradiation chamber (the "separator") and/or pulsed high energy QCL's still using a rotating mirror (also from both ends of the separator). This is unlikely to be a "go" or "no go" but there may be potential problems in synchronizing the QCL lasers to provide "full saturation" of the UF₆/G feedstock and retaining it in the "excited" state during separation. An important parameter is that the UF6/G flow is fully irradiated (or at least as much as to make the process sufficiently efficient)
- they will have to make sure that the "fluence" (or shaping) of the laser beam(s) across its axis is "flat" (as shown below - intensity is the vertical axis, the horizontal axis is diametrically across the laser beam).

)
The "fluence" of normal laser beam is "bell shaped" (gaussian) and will need to be "re- shaped" to ensure that that it has the above shaped fluence. If you don't then beam edges will receive insufficient energy to excite the ²³⁵UF₆ but in the centre too much (thus causing dissociation into ²³⁵UF₅/G + F - UF₅ is an abrasive powder which would "gunge" up the separator). As I understand it the beam is then likely reflected through the irradiation chamber by a "herriot cell" (as shown below) but the beam will need retain its "fluence" throughout the reflected path (a difficult task)


- the IR radiation needs to be fine tuned to 15.916 micron with minimal wavelength "spread" (or at least ensure that the 15.934 micron resonant frequency of ²³⁸UF₆ is not excited)

- whilst the Beam Control System (BCS) will have been component tested it will now need to be "system tested" at each (possibly synchronized pulse lasers) end of the separator.

- the big difference will be that the earlier tests (on the GEH test loop) were evidently on a "batch" system needing preparation time = these tests will be for a continuous process, however in 2013 GEH (actually GLE then without an SLX share interest) had sufficient confidence in "success" to apply for an NRC licence (at Wilmington) and to make the second stage payment (US$15m to SLX in 2013)

Overall "success" will be defined by the effectiveness of the above (and likely more) factors and will be measured by the "enrichment factor", "depletion factor" and throughput combined with the energy used. No doubt targets will define "success" - IMHO "success" is likely to be "grey" and not a hard "pass" or "fail". No doubt there will be a lot of "tweaking" as the "test" proceeds and possibly even during the time the independent expert is present.

Please note that all the above is my supposition (I have no inside knowledge) - just what I have learnt from technical literature on the topic and a relevant academic background (many years ago).