Bocky - yes, there are similarities to SLX 25 years ago - high tech companies are full of optimists who totally underestimate the problems (Moosey is not alone).
We know that in 2005 SLX had numerous issues to resolve (see
HERE) and that despite these issues USEC (in 1999) dropped AVLIS despite the US (and Lawrence Livermore lab) spending over US2Bn by 1999. It also appears that numerous countries tried to develop AVLIS and all have failed; however Oceanwall now report that ASPI claim (actually Quantum enrichment) use this repeatedly failed technology for uranium and resolve the issues on a shoestring budget.
Oceanwall report that ASPI (actually their subsidiary Quantum Enrichment) have a workable solution and report "
this plant to be completed towards the end of 2024 or early 2025" and that an HALEU enrichment facility "
In terms of construction time, the Company expects a uranium enrichment facility could be built in approximately 18-24 months (from receiving necessary licenses) and production volumes would gradually ramp up to the final capacity of 20 MT per year per unit". The Oceanwall report then reports that ASPI assert: "Subject to licensure, ASPI believes it can produce commercial quantities of HALEU by 2027 that would satisfy the anticipated demand from all advanced reactors currently in development, at a lower price than competitors" My reaction is disbelief and incredulity.
ASPI use as justification "
The ASPI Laser team have decades of experience in constructing laser systems and actually constructed and sold the lasers to Silex Systems"; this is pretty misleading. It's true that an associate company of Klydon (SDI lasers) did supply lasers to SLX in its early days. I don't know the current suppliers but CO2 lasers are only one component in the Silex laser apparatus. Those lasers may well have changed to Quantum Cascade lasers; both are potentially applicable to MLIS processes (Silex is one of these) but NOT AVLIS (which is proposed by Quantum Enrichment) which as I understand it use visible dye lasers; these are different. The breakthroughs by Silex are not just the lasers but the production of a stable 16 micron light beam of sufficient continuity and power which involves many other components; in particular the multiplexing of the laser beam (to convert pulses to continuous if that is what is used as a source), the Beam Control System (BCS) to ensure stability and the diffraction gratings to ensure only the 235U v3 frequency is produced - the 238U v3 frequency is only minutely greater. The separator is also a major component.
Silex is a variant of MLIS (and borrowed a lot from it}. I guess the primary difference is that the produce stays as UF6 throughout the process (in MLIS the feedstock was converted to UF5 which need to be converted back to UF6 after each cascade - this was impractical and MLIS was scapped in the mid 1990's). As I quoted in the first paragraph on this post in 2005 they had numerious outstanding issues; luckily for SLX in 2006 GEH took over the project and spent about US$500m on it and that Cameco we sufficiently impressed to join the consortium in 2008. It then appears that GEH were sufficiently impressed with progress by 2013 to pay SLX an installment of US$29m and apply (and be granted) a commercial license for a 6MSWU plant in Wilmington (now terminated)
In July 2014 the uranium market collapsed and GEH attempted to sell off their interest but Cameco stayed in there with an impairment charge (in 2015) of C$183,615,000. However Cameco still had sufficient confidence to partner with SLX and continue their laser development sponsorship which resulted in numerous improvements concluding in an 8 months of successful tests and now assembly (in Wilmington) of the TRL/6 prototype which is now being inspected by the NRC with a view to filling with UF6 and starting trials around now which are scheduled to conclude in mid 2024
