US microreactor company invests in laser enrichment
Microreactor technology company NANO Nuclear Energy Inc is joining privately owned laser enrichment company LIS Technologies Inc in a collaboration it says will reinvigorate the USA's domestic uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication capabilities and provide NANO Nuclear with uranium hexafluoride to fuel its reactors.
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NANO Nuclear said it invested USD2 million into the recently closed LIS Technologies (LIST) USD11.88 million seed round financing.
A strategic agreement between the two companies will see NANO Nuclear and LIST collaborate on advancing LIST's enrichment technology as it continues its development and moves towards the regulatory licensing process, NANO Nuclear said. "LIST will ultimately provide NANO Nuclear with quantities of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) fuel for use in NANO Nuclear's advanced portable microreactors in development and for future sale by NANO Nuclear and LIST to third parties," it said, added that it believes the technology has the potential to be fully developed, licensed and capable of producing commercial quantities of low-enriched and high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel within ten years.
As part of the agreement, NANO Nuclear will develop "supportive capabilities", including deconversion and fuel fabrication facilities, to incorporate LIST's enriched UF6 into an integrated fuel manufacturing process. NANO Nuclear will also collaborate with LIST on joint research and development initiatives.
"The parties intend that LIST will provide NANO Nuclear with enriched UF6 at no cost to be fabricated and sold to customers, with LIST to receive compensation as part of a profit-sharing arrangement to be agreed to between the companies in the future," it said. LIST will also act as NANO Nuclear's preferred supplier of enriched UF6 in future fuel purchasing agreements.
LIST's proprietary laser-based enrichment process uses infrared wavelengths to selectively excite the molecules of desired isotopes to separate them from other isotopes, which it says is energy-efficient and can be deployed with relatively favourable capital and operational costs. It purchased CRISLA, Inc - the developer of the patented advanced laser technology - in August 2023 and describes itself as the only USA-origin and patented laser uranium enrichment company.
"This strategic collaboration with LIST is another important milestone for NANO Nuclear as we believe it provides us with a competitive edge over other advanced reactor companies in the US," NANO Nuclear founder and Chairman Jay Yu said. "The technology being developed by LIST has the potential to reshape the United States' uranium enrichment capabilities and pave the way for the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors to be a carbon-neutral and efficient solution to its growing energy demands."
Christo Liebenberg, CEO of LIST, said: "NANO Nuclear's backing in our oversubscribed financing round is allowing us to rapidly advance along a carefully planned growth strategy to potentially becoming the first true, scalable and commercialised laser uranium enrichment company in the world." Liebenberg added that the strategic collaboration "creates a substantial advantage for both companies and the broader US market, positioning us to capitalise on a novel opportunity".
NANO Nuclear and LIST are "related parties" through certain common ownership and with some officers and directors in common, but the transaction "was reviewed and approved by NANO Nuclear's independent directors who have no role with LIST", the company said.
NANO Nuclear, which is developing the ZEUS solid core battery reactor and ODIN low-pressure coolant reactor, listed publicly in May.
