The Nuclear Fuel Cycle - Conversion and Enrichment

Mark O'Mara: I want to save most of the detailed analysis of the economics of the fuel cycle for my interview with Justin Hune next week. In order to get to enriched nuclear fuel that runs a reactor, you've got to go through first a process called conversion which turns that powdered uranium into a gas and then it has to go through a process called enrichment. The conversion and enrichment processes are of particular interest to investors because a lot of analysts think that those processes are going to become bottlenecks when demand for finished enriched uranium fuel products increases dramatically in coming years. So Mark, please explain why conversion and enrichment are necessary and how those functions are performed today.