The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has cleared a major procedural hurdle for what could become the world's first laser-based uranium enrichment plant, issuing a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Global Laser Enrichment's (GLE) Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) in Kentucky. In the FEIS, the regulator recommends that a construction and operation licence be issued for the proposed plant.

The milestone follows GLE's submission of its Environmental Report to the NRC in December 2024, and moves the project into the final stretch of a licensing campaign that has been watched closely across the global fuel cycle.

What the licence would authorise

The scope of the requested licence is significant for the advanced reactor supply chain. According to Silex Systems CEO and Managing Director Michael Goldsworthy, PLEF would become the world's first laser-based enrichment facility for production of natural grade uranium — recovered from depleted uranium tails — and low-enriched uranium (LEU) with uranium-235 assays up to 5%.

Crucially, the NRC licence would also authorise GLE to produce LEU+ with assays up to 8%. That is a new fuel grade being sought by nuclear utilities to improve power plant economics, and it sits in the band immediately below the 5–20% U-235 definition of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU).

Timeline to a final decision

The Final Safety Evaluation Report — the last milestone before a licensing decision — is expected by the end of the year. Goldsworthy said the PLEF licence is expected to be finalised in early 2027.

"The Final Safety Evaluation Report — the last milestone before a licensing decision — is expected by the end of the year," with the PLEF licence expected to be finalised in early 2027, Goldsworthy said.

Why it matters for HALEU

PLEF's planned deployment is unusual: rather than mining fresh uranium, it would re-enrich high-assay depleted uranium tails left over from previous operations at the US Department of Energy's former Paducah gaseous diffusion enrichment plant. That turns a legacy waste inventory into a domestic fuel source.

GLE says the plant will be the world's first large-scale domestic enrichment facility utilising a next-generation enrichment process, strengthening US nuclear fuel cycle supply chains and long-term energy security. For advanced reactor developers awaiting non-Russian HALEU and enriched fuel, the pace of NRC decision-making at Paducah is now a leading indicator of when a genuinely diversified Western enrichment base — spanning centrifuge and laser routes — becomes commercially real.

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