NEW HORIZONS — A richer uranium

Cameco and the U.S. Enrichment Corp. (USEC) have signed an agreement related to a new uranium enrichment process.

Called atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS), this process, which is being developed by USEC, uses laser beams to enrich fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Cameco will be involved in developing the technology and demonstrating the feasibility of converting natural uranium into an uranium metal alloy for feedstock for the AVLIS process.

Currently, two uranium enrichment technologies are being used commercially: gaseous diffusion and gas centrifuge. USEC manages gaseous diffusion plants in Kentucky and Ohio, and is the world’s largest producer and marketer of uranium enrichment services. AVLIS enrichment is less costly than existing enrichment technologies; it uses a significantly lower amount of electricity and will cost less to build than other advanced enrichment technologies. It also shows the best potential for safety and reliability.

The feedstock demonstration project, which will last for approximately two years, will involve Cameco’s fuel service division in Ontario. That division will provide high-purity uranium trioxide from the company’s Blind River facility, while tests for development and a technological demonstration of feedstock production will be conducted at its Port Hope conversion facilities. These facilities currently produce refined uranium trioxide and provide uranium hexafluoride as feedstock for enrichment plants that use existing technologies.

Cameco and USEC, a government corporation in the process of being privatized, will also study the economic feasibility of the AVLIS feedstock operation, as well as conduct engineering and design work for construction of a full-scale production feedstock plant. The study will evaluate many factors, including options for plant location and regulatory approvals that may be needed to move into commercial production.

USEC will continue the design and development of the AVLIS enrichment program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, while the feedstock demonstration project is under way in Port Hope.

Once the feedstock demonstration project is completed and the feasibility study has been examined, the partners will make a decision on commercial production.

— The preceding is from an article that appeared in “The Source,” the publication of Cameco.