Silex laser uranium enrichment technology is a nuclear weapons danger

US uranium laser enrichment technology threatens Nuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyVoice of Russia, 26 Dec 13, The uranium laser enrichment technology that has been given a new impetus in the US is capable of knocking the bottom out of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The technology consists in uranium isotope separation with laser stimulation (SILEX). Optimists put a great deal of trust in this and pessimists warn about negative consequences……..

Now the US is trying to re-energise it. General Electric and Hitachi have set up a joint venture and are building a plant to separate isotopes with laser stimulation……..

The basic problem about the SILEX technology is that it may prove largely helpful to the forces that are engaged in nuclear proliferation. SILEX theoretically makes it more likely for such forces to get hold of nukes. In any event, the new technology brings up some difficult problems for the non-proliferation regime guarantors to consider and settle, ……

it helps bridge the gap between the countries that can and that cannot manufacture their own nuclear weapons. SILEX is a graphic illustration of the last challenge, so all apprehensions for the technology in question are quite justifiable……http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_26/US-uranium-laser-enrichment-technology-threatens-Nuclear-Non-Profileration-Treaty-9278/

Silex laser uranium enrichment increases risk of weapons spread

Laser advance may increase spread of nuclear bomb, SMH, William Broad, August 22, 2011 In a little-known effort, General Electric has successfully tested laser enrichment for two years and is seeking permission from the US government to build a $US1 billion ($960 million) plant that would make reactor fuel by the tonne.

That might be good news for the nuclear industry, but critics fear that if the work succeeds and the secret gets out, rogue states and terrorists could make bomb fuel in much smaller plants that are difficult to detect……. critics want a detailed risk assessment. Recently, they petitioned Washington for a formal evaluation of whether the laser initiative could backfire and speed the global spread of nuclear arms.

”We’re on the verge of a new route to the bomb,” said Frank von Hippel, a nuclear physicist who teaches at Princeton University. ”We should have learnt enough by now to do an assessment before we let this kind of thing out.”  New varieties of enrichment are considered dangerous because they simplify obtaining the fuel……http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/laser-advance-may-increase-spread-of-nuclear-bomb-20110821-1j4mm.html

Australia’s Silex Systems part of nuclear power industry

progress hinges on a world-leading uranium processing method called laser enrichment.

The technology has been acquired by a heavy-hitting US consortium of nuclear companies, Global Laser Enrichment, which has completed a testing program.

Heavy weather for nation’s solitary solar-panel maker, The Australian, TIM BOREHAM , July 18, 2011 AS the head of Australia’s only solar-panel maker, Silex Systems’ Michael Goldsworthy sticks to script and welcomes the pending carbon tax and accompanying billion-dollar renewable subsidy programs that will benefit companies such as Silex…..

Uranium enrichment company buys into solar energy

the re-opening of the plant will force a moral dilemma on go-greeners in the country. Do they really want to invest in Australian-made solar panels, when they will also, indirectly, be investing in nuclear energy?

Sydney’s largest solar panel plant rescued from the brink of extinction,  Photovoltaics International27 April 2010 | By Emma Hughes “……As BP closed its doors for the final time, Australia’s PV manufacturing industry looked like it would never again see the light of day. It was then that the unexpected occurred, the fate of the dormant plant was left in the hands of a nuclear energy research company. SilexSolar has now given the facility a new breath of life as it opens its doors once more……