Cameco in offtake agreement for US laser enrichment plant

Silex Systems Limited announced the execution of the agreement between Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) - the exclusive licensee of the SILEX laser enrichment technology - and Cameco.

GLE was formed in 2007 to develop and commercialise laser-based uranium enrichment technology capability in the USA. It is 51%-owned by Silex Systems, the Australian inventor of the SILEX laser enrichment process, and 49% owned by Cameco.

Silex CEO/Managing Director Michael Goldsworthy said the offtake agreement provides a "home" for all of GLE’s future nuclear fuel products, including natural uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and enriched uranium products. It will guarantee GLE receives pricing for its products equivalent to Cameco’s average realised price, net of appropriate selling costs, achieved on an annual basis across its long-term contracting portfolio, without GLE needing to incur the cost of establishing its own sales and marketing resources.

"Cameco is one of the largest global providers of nuclear fuel with significant investments across the nuclear industry, including 49% ownership interests in both GLE and Westinghouse Electric Company," he said. "The Agreement with Cameco also provides a key commercial pillar to support a future final investment decision (FID) for the PLEF. The Offtake Agreement contains customary contractual terms to protect the interests of GLE and Silex."

North Carolina-based GLE last year achieved Technology Readiness Level 6, following the completion of a large-scale uranium enrichment demonstration programme using SILEX laser enrichment technology at its Test Loop facility in Wilmington, North Carolina. It completed a full licence application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for PLEF - the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility - in July last year.

_{Stephen Long (centre) at World Nuclear Symposium 2026 (Image: World Nuclear Association)}

Speaking at World Nuclear Symposium 2026 in London last week, GLE CEO Stephen Long said the company expects to have a licence in hand for PLEF in early 2027, and plans to serve all enrichment markets whether for low-enriched uranium, LEU+ (uranium enriched to between 5% and 10% uranium-235) or high-assay low enriched uranium. 

Paducah is the site of a former gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plant, and GLE intends to re-enrich high-assay depleted uranium tails from previous operations there under an agreement with the US Department of Energy. GLE expects to produce about 70,000 tonnes of "new, fresh feed" from the 200,000-plus tonnes of tails at Paducah over the plant's lifetime, Long said.

The commercialisation pathway, as well as technology maturation and preparing for the final investment decision, are key to de-risking the project for GLE, Long said.

"We've tried very carefully to choose a low-risk commercialisation pathway that exercises supply discipline and relies on durable demand in the enrichment market, regardless of happens in the broader landscape," he said.