Editing Enriched uranium (section)

===Laser techniques===
Laser processes promise lower energy inputs, lower capital costs and lower tails assays, hence significant economic advantages. Several laser processes have been investigated or are under development. [[Separation of isotopes by laser excitation]] (SILEX) is well developed and is licensed for commercial operation as of 2012. Separation of isotopes by laser excitation is a very effective and cheap method of uranium separation, able to be done in small facilities requiring much less energy and space than previous separation techniques. The cost of uranium enrichment using laser enrichment technologies is approximately $30 per SWU<ref name=Weinberger2012/> which is less than a third of the price of gas centrifuges, the current standard of enrichment. Separation of isotopes by laser excitation could be done in facilities virtually undetectable by satellites.<ref name="Slakey & Cohen 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Slakey |first1=Francis |last2=Cohen |first2=Linda R. |title=Stop laser uranium enrichment |journal=Nature |date=March 2010 |volume=464 |issue=7285 |pages=32–33 |id={{ProQuest|204555310}} |doi=10.1038/464032a |pmid=20203589 |bibcode=2010Natur.464...32S |s2cid=205053626 }}</ref> More than 20 countries have worked with laser separation over the past two decades, the most notable of these countries being Iran and North Korea, though all countries have had very limited success up to this point.  

====Atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS)====
[[Atomic vapor laser isotope separation]] employs specially tuned lasers<ref>[[F. J. Duarte]] and L. W. Hillman (Eds.), ''Dye Laser Principles'' (Academic, New York, 1990) Chapter 9.</ref> to separate isotopes of uranium using selective ionization of [[hyperfine transitions]]. The technique uses [[laser]]s tuned to frequencies that ionize <sup>235</sup>U atoms and no others. The positively charged <sup>235</sup>U ions are then attracted to a negatively charged plate and collected.

====Molecular laser isotope separation (MLIS)====
[[Molecular laser isotope separation]] uses an infrared laser directed at [[Uranium hexafluoride|UF<sub>6</sub>]], exciting molecules that contain a <sup>235</sup>U atom. A second laser frees a [[fluorine]] atom, leaving [[uranium pentafluoride]], which then precipitates out of the gas.

====Separation of isotopes by laser excitation (SILEX)====
[[Separation of isotopes by laser excitation]] is an Australian development that also uses [[Uranium hexafluoride|UF<sub>6</sub>]]. After a protracted development process involving U.S. enrichment company [[USEC]] acquiring and then relinquishing commercialization rights to the technology, [[GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy]] (GEH) signed a commercialization agreement with Silex Systems in 2006.<ref>{{cite press release|url =http://www.ge-energy.com/about/press/en/2006_press/052206b.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614092643/http://www.ge-energy.com/about/press/en/2006_press/052206b.htm|archive-date=14 June 2006|title = GE Signs Agreement With Silex Systems of Australia To Develop Uranium Enrichment Technology|date =22 May 2006|publisher = GE Energy }}</ref> GEH has since built a demonstration test loop and announced plans to build an initial commercial facility.<ref>{{cite web |title= GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Selects Wilmington, N.C. as Site for Potential Commercial Uranium Enrichment Facility |url=http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/ge/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1004554&newsId=20080430006101&newsLang=en&vnsId=681|publisher=Business Wire|access-date=30 September 2012|date=30 April 2008}}</ref> Details of the process are classified and restricted by intergovernmental agreements between United States, Australia, and the commercial entities. SILEX has been projected to be an order of magnitude more efficient than existing production techniques but again, the exact figure is classified.<ref name="Lodge"/> In August 2011 Global Laser Enrichment, a subsidiary of GEH, applied to the U.S. [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] (NRC) for a permit to build a commercial plant.<ref>{{cite news |last=Broad |first=William J. |authorlink=William Broad |date=20 August 2011 |title=Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/science/earth/21laser.html |access-date=21 August 2011}}</ref> In September 2012, the NRC issued a license for GEH to build and operate a commercial SILEX enrichment plant, although the company had not yet decided whether the project would be profitable enough to begin construction, and despite concerns that the technology could contribute to [[nuclear proliferation]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Associated Press |date=27 September 2012 |title=Uranium Plant Using Laser Technology Wins U.S. Approval |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/business/energy-environment/uranium-plant-using-laser-technology-wins-us-approval.html}}</ref> The fear of nuclear proliferation arose in part due to laser separation technology requiring less than 25% of the space of typical separation techniques, as well as requiring only the energy that would power 12 typical houses, putting a laser separation plant that works by means of laser excitation well below the detection threshold of existing surveillance technologies.<ref name="Slakey & Cohen 2010"/> Due to these concerns the [[American Physical Society]] filed a petition with the NRC, asking that before any laser excitation plants are built that they undergo a formal review of proliferation risks. The APS even went as far as calling the technology a "game changer"<ref name=Weinberger2012/> due to the ability for it to be hidden from any type of detection.