Global Laser Enrichment

Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) is a U.S.-based company commercializing laser technology to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel. It is the exclusive worldwide licensee of the SILEX process, developed by Silex Systems of Australia, which owns 51% of GLE; Cameco, an integrated nuclear fuel supplier, owns the remaining 49%. Since 2007, GLE has worked with Silex Systems to advance the technology and reports investing more than $400 million in its commercialization program.

SILEX, short for Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation, uses lasers tuned to specific frequencies to selectively excite uranium hexafluoride molecules. The process is intended to increase the proportion of uranium-235 relative to uranium-238. GLE is developing this technology to support nuclear fuel production for carbon-free power, including low-enriched uranium and higher-enrichment needs for existing reactors, as well as high-assay low-enriched uranium for next-generation reactors. The company also holds exclusive rights to enrich a significant portion of the U.S. Department of Energy’s depleted uranium tails at a proposed facility in Paducah, Kentucky.