Laser Focused

摘要

Growing global interest in nuclear power is focusing attention on the infrastructure, capital investment and human resource requirements associated with new plant construction. In addition to the 30 countries that already use nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports that another 60 countries are considering its use. Producing nuclear fuel from uranium ore is a four-step process encompassing mining and milling to create uranium oxide, chemical conversion to uranium hexafluoride, enrichment to increase the U-235 content to a useful fraction for fission and fabrication into fuel assemblies. The laser enrichment technology's proprietary nature calls attention to nuclear fuel enrichment's proliferation aspects. With gaseous diffusion, the size of the facilities and quantities of uranium required have historically provided substantial proliferation resistance.