Dallas startup enriches Uranium
Dallas-based Actinide, an advanced materials company, has made history by producing high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for the first time. HALEU, defined as uranium with 5-20% uranium-235, is crucial for advanced reactors but currently unavailable domestically. Actinide's first-generation calutron, a modified electromagnetic isotope separator, achieved this milestone using a laboratory-scale exclusion under NRC regulations.
The enrichment process, which produced natural uranium at 15.38% enrichment, still needs conversion into solid form before use in reactors. Actinide's co-founders, Eric Olszewski and Robert Mendelsohn, emphasize their technology's cost-effectiveness, speed, and reconfigurability compared to conventional centrifuge plants. The second-generation Fortitude separator is in development, aiming to provide half the separation capacity of the U.S. government's current electromagnetic fleet.
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