MooseyRegardless of your occasional failure to connect you are...

Moosey
Regardless of your occasional failure to connect you are appreciated by most here,,, and that includes this investor.

PK9
Note, article and excerpt below were updated May 2012. Since said date to present we have witnessed/read numerous articles regarding laser enrichment. Although the released articles have given us much to digest, (and consider) IMO, we have witnessed some of the information regarding laser enrichment having been withheld due to GLE not wishing to completely reveal their future plans and the fact that much of the process(es) is/are classified – Because of the latter, (process(es) is/are classified) we must not expect to have all revealed – However, what we have learned from information released to date enables us to make assumptions.

At times our assumptions, are strongly felt, strongly felt as a result of much research. Perhaps with additional research you will conclude the last sentence in excerpt below – “In the future, laser enrichment techniques may be able to remove these isotopes.” – Appears to have been successfully accomplished by GLE. IMO this appears to be the case…

“Products of Reprocessing
Used fuel contains a wide array of nuclides in varying valency states. Processing it thus inherently complex chemically, and made more difficult because many of those nuclides are also radioactive.

The composition of reprocessed uranium (RepU) depends on the initial enrichment and the time the fuel has been in the reactor, but it is mostly U-238. It will normally have less than 1% U-235 (typically about 0.5% U-235) and also smaller amounts of U-232 and U-236 created in the reactor. The U-232, though only in trace amounts, has daughter nuclides which are strong gamma-emitters, making the material difficult to handle. However, once in the reactor, U-232 is no problem (it captures a neutron and becomes fissile U-233). It is largely formed through alpha decay of Pu-236, and the concentration of it peaks after about 10 years of storage.

The U-236 isotope is a neutron absorber present in much larger amounts, typically 0.4% to 0.6% – more with higher burn-up – which means that if reprocessed uranium is used for fresh fuel in a conventional reactor it must be enriched significantly more (e.g. up to one-tenth more) than is required for natural uranium. Thus RepU from low burn-up fuel is more likely to be suitable for re-enrichment, while that from high burn-up fuel is best used for blending or MOX fuel fabrication.

The other minor uranium isotopes are U-233 (fissile), U-234 (from original ore, enriched with U-235, fertile), and U-237 (short half-life beta emitter). None of these affects the use of handling of the reprocessed uranium significantly. In the future, laser enrichment techniques may be able to remove these isotopes.”

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf69.html



PK9 – FROM YOUR POST
“I assume you are talking of PRISM. Where in the prism process, other than the original processing of uranium is SILEX applicable? I understand the reprocessing for that reactor is Electrometallurgical.”

Regarding the PDF below, utilizing Slide 21 of 22:
For initial uranium enrichment, position Laser Enrichment between Uranium Mining and Fuel Fabrication, (as you have acknowledged).
The excerpt from article above alludes to additional incorporation for Laser Enrichment within, (making it part of) Nuclear Fuel Recycling Center.
The ‘PRISM’ GEN IV reactor and the Advanced Recycling Reactor are one and the same.


Spent Nuclear Fuel Recycling using PRISM
http://nordic-gen4.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/David-Powell.pdf



Hope this helps.