Maybe this heading is more appropriate? I am starting this new...

Maybe this heading is more appropriate?

I am starting this new thread about Uranium Enrichment for peaceful purposes, it is not for anything related to Military use of Uranium Enrichment and such discussion should be taken elsewhere.

It would be acceptable IMHO if discussion was on all forms of enrichment and their technical issues, i.e Gas Diffusion, Centrifuge or Laser, it may even include any newer technology that comes along in the future that could possibly compete with third generation enrichment.

Uranium can come from a number sources for enrichment or re enrichment and UNF is one of those, the fact that in some cases with recycling it requires an enrichment facility, similar to what GEH planned all those years for the Wilmington plant, it was being built to supply re enriched Uranium up to 8%, the reason for the higher enrichment level was to overcome some of the nuclear poisons, that project was abandoned because the UK balked at the costs associated with the PRISM reactor, it wasn't being designed for use in the US, because at that time recycling of UNF was banned there, it was designed for use in the UK only was what I read, but the PRISM reactor was based on an earlier test reactor that ran for 30 years in the US, it was caller the EBWR11 and some of the SMR's are based on the same principles.

Many things have happened since those days, one in particular is the advent of the SMR's which do require a higher degree of enrichment, which will give a longer fuel reload period, they run hotter than today's BWR reactors, besides they can also supply a few other uses than just electricity production.
But some BWR,s can run on LEU+ (a form of HALEU) as well.
Some forms of BWR's can also use LEU+, other SMR's will require more enrichment up to closer to 20% enrichment.

The fact that Russia invaded the Ukraine made the US look even more closely at security of supply, they were concerned before that event, but even more-so after it, maybe it was for this reason why they are again looking at Recycling UNF, there is still heaps of energy left in it as Eric Loewen told US congress many years ago, and newer methods of recycling are starting to gain favor again, i.e pyroprocessing is one, but there are other advances in recycling as well, one being the use of AI to test the material levels from the recycling, making the system safer, faster and cheaper to extract the usable components of what energy is left in UNF, I have read that in some cases only 1% of the usable fuel was used first time around, and in some cases they will need some sort of Uranium enrichment to re enrich the Uranium235 component back to it's original lever or higher and also remove some of the nuclear poisons.

GEH are again looking at re enrichment of UNF and they are based at Wilmington, if UNF is ever recycled there? then from what I have read, enrichment of the Uranium would be best located on the same site, because the Uranium coming from the recycle plant would be much more radioactive and laser enrichment would be the best candidate for this because it can enrich a specific isotope and leave behind the others, centrifuge doesn't lend itself well to that although the French do use that system.