For criticality experiments, enrichment of uranium to over 97% has been accomplished. The very first uranium bomb, Little Boy, dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945, used 64 kilograms of 80% enriched uranium.
enrichment company USEC acquiring and then relinquishing commercialization rights to the technology, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) signed a commercialization agreement with Silex Systems in 2006.
Throughout the Cold War, gaseous diffusion played a major role as a uranium enrichment technique, and as of 2008 accounted for about 33% of enriched uranium production, but in 2011 was deemed an obsolete technology that is steadily being replaced by the later generations of technology as the diffusion plants reach their ends-of-life.
Throughout the Cold War, gaseous diffusion played a major role as a uranium enrichment technique, and as of 2008 accounted for about 33% of enriched uranium production, but in 2011 was deemed an obsolete technology that is steadily being replaced by the later generations of technology as the diffusion plants reach their ends-of-life.
In August, 2011 Global Laser Enrichment, a subsidiary of GEH, applied to the U.S.
Separation of isotopes by laser excitation (SILEX) is well developed and is licensed for commercial operation as of 2012. ====Atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS)==== Atomic vapor laser isotope separation employs specially tuned lasers to separate isotopes of uranium using selective ionization of [transitions].
In September 2012, the NRC issued a license for GEH to build and operate a commercial SILEX enrichment plant, although the company had not yet decided whether the project would be profitable enough to begin construction, and despite concerns that the technology could contribute to nuclear proliferation. ===Other techniques=== ====Aerodynamic processes==== Aerodynamic enrichment processes include the Becker jet nozzle techniques developed by E.
In 2013, the Paducah facility in the US ceased operating, it was the last commercial 235U gaseous diffusion plant in the world. ====Thermal diffusion==== Thermal diffusion uses the transfer of heat across a thin liquid or gas to accomplish isotope separation.
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