RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A nuclear power partnership of General Electric and Hitachi has received federal approval to build the first plant to enrich uranium for use in commercial reactors using a classified laser technology.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license to General Electric-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment this week to build and operate a uranium enrichment plant near Wilmington, N.C., deploying the laser technology instead of costlier centrifuges.

The approval alarmed some advocates of nuclear weapons control, who say they fear that allowing companies to use the cheaper and easier technology could increase the risk of it falling into the wrong hands.

“We think the approval of the license was done without due consideration of proliferation,” said Edwin S. Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “We’re already grappling with how to cope with Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability” and the laser technology “could make the problem of global proliferation intractable and uncontrollable.”