Outside Paducah, Kentucky, a large quantity of uranium is stored in thousands of cylinders containing waste material from a now-closed nuclear enrichment plant. Lasers could help recover it.

Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) plans to reprocess this legacy material using a new technology known as laser enrichment. The process could be more efficient than conventional enrichment methods, enabling the company to reclaim the material and produce feedstock with the same uranium concentration as naturally mined ore.

The company also says laser enrichment could eventually be used to produce material for nuclear fuel, including fuel for advanced reactors.

Nuclear power currently supplies about 9% of the world's electricity. That share could rise slightly as major powers such as the United States and China pursue the construction of new reactors, including some based on next-generation technologies. Less expensive ways to obtain fuel could help ensure that these nuclear projects proceed as planned.

Naturally occurring uranium consists mostly of uranium-238, which accounts for more than 99%, and uranium-235, which makes up about 0.7%. Uranium-235 is the fissile isotope: when struck by slow, low-energy neutrons, it can sustain a chain reaction that generates electricity.

Centrifuges are currently the predominant technology used to enrich uranium. In essence, the equipment spins uranium-bearing material at extremely high speeds. The heavier material containing U-238 is pushed toward the outer edge, while the lighter material containing U-235 remains closer to the center. It is the same basic principle at work when someone swings a mustard bottle to force out the last of its contents.

Material with a higher concentration of U-235 can then be processed into nuclear fuel.