Atomic Show #342 – Christo Liebenberg, President, LIS Technologies
From The Atomic Show by Rod Adams - Atomic Insights
April 8, 2026 · 56 min
About this episode
The episode features Christo Liebenberg discussing the history and challenges of LIS Technologies' CRISLA project in laser isotope separation.
LIS Technologies (LIST) is a young company with deep historical roots. CRISLA (Condensation Repression Isotope Selective Laser Activation), its laser isotope separation concept was developed and tested during the late 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership of Dr. Jeff Eerkens. Unfortunately, the path towards commercializing the technology hit a multi-decade detour as the result of terrible timing and a slow analytical process. At the same time that the CRISLA development effort began producing intriguing results, there was a major effort to consume excess enriched uranium from the former Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons complex. The solution was to convert that material into fuel so that it could be consumed in U.S. nuclear power plants. The enriched uranium consumption program, known as “ Megatons to Megawatts “, arguably made the world safer and provided significant benefits to American electricity consumers. Megatons to Megawatts also flooded the world’s enriched uranium market and eliminated investor interest in improving existing processes. The CRISLA project was halted. Just before the project was abruptly cancelled, the development team conducted…
People in this episode
Host: Rod Adams
Guest: Christo Liebenberg
Topics covered
- laser isotope separation
- nuclear technology
- enriched uranium
- commercialization challenges
- historical context
- nuclear power
Keywords
- CRISLA
- LIS Technologies
- laser isotope separation
- nuclear technology
- enriched uranium
- commercialization
- Jeff Eerkens
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: LIS Technologies, Megatons to Megawatts, U.S. nuclear power plants
More episodes of The Atomic Show
- Atomic Show #345 – Bobby Gallagher, CEO Deployable Energy · May 18, 2026 · 59 min
- Atomic Show #344 – Jarret Adams, Founder Full On Communications · May 8, 2026 · 47 min
- Atomic Show #343 – Yasir Arafat, CTO Aalo Atomics · April 16, 2026 · 45 min
- Atomic Show #341 – Ho Nieh, Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission · April 3, 2026 · 42 min
- Atomic Show #340 – Zion Lights, Author of “Energy is Life” · March 28, 2026 · 1h 9m
- Atomic Show #339 – Greyson Buckingham, CEO Disa Technologies · January 5, 2026 · 49 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Atomic Show podcast page.