Lumen Isotope Separation

Lumen Isotope Separation

Preferred equity in laser enrichment. A tenth of the energy of a centrifuge cascade, and a proliferation argument to answer.

Selective photoionisation excites one uranium isotope and not the other, which separates them in a single stage rather than the thousands of cascade stages a centrifuge plant requires. The energy saving is roughly an order of magnitude. The same property that makes it efficient, namely a small, low-signature facility, is precisely what makes non-proliferation specialists uneasy, and the licensing pathway reflects that.