The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Monday that four electric utility companies have asked the NRC to review Lightbridge Corp.’s patented metallic fuel design because of its safety and efficiency potential.
“Lightbridge is developing the first truly next generation commercial fuel design that can provide significant fuel performance and economic benefits to nuclear utilities,” Lightbridge President and CEO Seth Grae said. “This expression of interest by major U.S. utilities is the strongest endorsement to date of Lightbridge fuel by potential customers. The company believes it remains well positioned to realize high-margin revenue streams from technology licensing fees and royalties from a growing $25 billion annual global market for nuclear fuel.”
The four utilities, which collectively represent 50 percent of the country’s nuclear power generation, submitted their letter to the NRC in the lead up to an expected 2017 application to use Lightbridge fuel lead test assemblies. The utilities hope to be using the technology by 2020. The metallic fuel design stands to improve upon current standards in terms of structural strength, performance during accidents, fuel cycle length, revenue and profits and drastic reductions of operating temperatures.
“We are confident that this focus on near-term catalysts in fuel technology development will lead to long-term value creation for Lightbridge shareholders,” Grae said.
