Cameco has marked the successful closure of a binding Membership Interest Purchase Agreement between Cameco, Silex Systems Limited and GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, completing the ownership restructuring of Global Laser Enrichment.

Cameco’s interest in GLE increases from 24% to 49%, with Silex acquiring the remaining 51%. Cameco is the commercial lead for the project and has an option to attain a majority interest of up to 75% ownership in GLE.

GLE is the exclusive licensee of the proprietary SILEX laser enrichment technology, third-generation uranium enrichment technology that is in the development phase.

Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel says, “While there are still a number of development milestones before this technology could be commercialized, we believe it has excellent potential to expand Cameco’s reach in the nuclear fuel cycle in the future, building on the existing world-class assets and capabilities we already possess in uranium production, refining, conversion and fuel fabrication.”

According to Cameco, subject to completion of the technology development program, and its progression through to commercialization, GLE stands poised to offer a variety of advantages to the global nuclear energy sector over the long-term, at a pace determined by market fundamentals. These include:

• As per GLE’s agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, re-enriching depleted uranium tails leftover as a by-product of previous-generation enrichment technologies, repurposing legacy waste into uranium and conversion products to fuel nuclear reactors and aiding in the responsible clean-up of enrichment facilities no longer in operation.
• Producing high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the primary fuel stock for the majority of small modular reactor (SMR) and advanced reactor designs that are proceeding through the development stage and continuing their march toward commercial readiness.
• Producing low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel for the world’s existing and future fleet of large-scale light-water reactors with greater efficiency and flexibility than current enrichment technologies.
  Canada and the United States are among the nations around the world pursuing ambitious carbon reduction strategies. Governments in both countries have signaled significant interest in cooperating on clean energy solutions, developing and deploying SMR technologies, and collaborating to bolster critical mineral and nuclear fuel cycle security.

Cameco says, GLE could fit extremely well with these bilateral policy priorities, potentially providing a stable source of North American-based uranium enrichment, adding to the robustness of the continental nuclear energy supply chain, and helping to de-risk any fuel concerns impeding the progress of emerging SMR designs.

Beyond the public sector, Cameco says many businesses and companies are also making commitments to combat climate change by targeting net-zero emissions from their operations, which will require significant investment. The ability to access sizeable volumes of electricity generated without the use of carbon is proving to be a major component of these strategies, as well.
“Nuclear power plays a massive role in the global clean energy equation,” Gitzel said. “That role will only increase in a carbon constrained world, particularly with the momentum behind SMR and advanced reactor technologies, a focus on the electrification of transportation systems, and the many other innovations that countries and companies are counting on to help meet their emission reduction targets.”