International Conference on Physics of Reactors 2024 Plenary SPeaker

Christo J. Liebenberg

CEO/Co-founder

LIS Technologies, Inc

Christo J. Liebenberg is an accomplished professional with 30 years of diverse technical & management experience in state-of-the-art laser & optical systems and applications. Most of this experience is in the field of Laser Isotope Separation of UF6, and he was involved in several classified laser enrichment processes on three different continents.

Mr Liebenberg started his career in the 1980’s at the Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa where he later spearheaded the optimization of enrichment parameters of the Molecular Laser Isotope Separation (MLIS) process. By the end of the 1990’s his journey led him to Australia where he later joined Silex Systems Ltd as their Laser Manager, and continued this role at Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) in Wilmington, NC where he played a key role in the architecture of the Test Loop Facility. In 2012 he joined the research team at ASML where he was intricately involved with the R&D of state-of-the-art CO2 laser systems to generate EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet), used today to manufacture modern semiconductor chips.

Championing CRISLA’s Revival: Mr Liebenberg has long been convinced that an alternative laser enrichment architecture was needed to make laser enrichment viable on a commercial scale. As such, he always kept a close eye on developments of Dr. Eerkens’s CRISLA process. In 2016, he did a critical risk analysis of CRISLA-3G, which included developing a scaling model of the process. Enthralled by impressive enrichment results, favorable techno-economics, seismic geo-political events, the advent of SMR’s and the DOE quest for a US-origin enrichment technology, he recognized the need to resurrect the CRISLA process. He co-founded CRISLA, Inc with Dr Eerkens in June 2020, and later co-founded LIS Technologies in August 2023.

Liebenberg obtained his MS degree in Physics from Stellenbosch University (1991) in South Africa. He (co-)authored at least 10 patents and published many technical papers and reports, mostly in the classified space. He received Australian citizenship in 2004 and US citizenship in 2021. He is married and the father of two children.