Scaggs - as you say commissioning is always a "high risk"operation and when the "bugs crawl out of the woodwork" - I understand the MG is well aware of this issue and considers "problems" as soluble - let's hope he is right. In this case one would assume that the original "test loop" was previously commissioned (as a batch operation) in 2012/13 after which SLX were paid their US$15m; this was (according to 2013 annual report) "
Test Loop technologydemonstration and NRCcommercial plantlicense approval". At that time the next phase (commenced in 2012) was "
Economic and engineeringvalidation for the initialcommercial production module" - evidently some of this work was done (at Oak Ridge NL) up until June 2014 and was consolidated to Wilmington in 2015.
It would appear (from later annual reports) that GEH did not (in July 2014) immediately mothball Wilmington activities but allowed (reduced) Wilmington activity to continue with SLX/Cameco funding until 2018 (see my table of costs derived from Cameco MD&A's below - numbers in 1,000's C$) - it was in 2018 to 2020 that funding collapsed (and SLX/Cameco threatened to pull out). It would appear that Lucas Heights (laser) development continued during the period 2014 to 2017 however, SLX/Cameco did curtail activity (both at Wilmington and Lucas Heights in 2018 - see below for the expenditure) from Cameco MD&A's). It would appear that the main activity during the 2014 - 2017 period was on the laser at Lucas Heights (i.e development of the BCS - Beam Control System to improve beam frequency stability) and an improved laser beam duty cycle leading to more of the UF6/carrier gas being irradiated).
Looking at Linkedin (see
HERE) it would appear that at least Chris Hobbs has worked in Wilmington since 2011 to date). The SLX (2017 annual report) claimed
"Further technology maturation including several engineering scale-up and economic validation deliverables were achievedduring FY2017 at both the GLE, Wilmington, North Carolina and Silex, Sydney project sites. Activities in the Test Loop facility inWilmington included the commissioning of key process equipment which resulted in the successful demonstration of efficiencyimprovements and the potential to lower operating and capital costs. Laser system development activities in Sydney includedtest and reliability of the prototype commercial-scale plant laser system and the ongoing development of plant control systemsrequired for the integrated prototype commercial technology demonstration to be conducted in Wilmington in the 2020 timeframe.". From this I would conclude that they were developing the BCS - Beam Control System and no doubt improving the efficiency of the laser by increasing its power and duty cycle (i.e to provide a more continuous beam thus irradiating more of the UF6/carrier gas).
The above expenditure (CY/24 guidance from Cameco of C$37m (49%) indicating the total CY/24 spend is budgeted as C$75.5m (US$55m) would indicate activity is now in full swing.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that another prime source of funding to SLX to date has been the R&D tax rebate (i.e support from the Australian government)
(20min delay)