Business
Lightbridge Announces Long-Term Strategic Partnership with Idaho National Laboratory
RESTON, Va., Dec. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lightbridge Corporation (Nasdaq: LTBR), an advanced nuclear fuel technology company, has entered into landmark
About this update from Lightbridge Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"RESTON, Va., Dec. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lightbridge Corporation (Nasdaq: LTBR), an advanced nuclear fuel technology company, has entered into landmark agreements with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to support the development of Lightbridge Fuel™. The framework agreements use an innovative structure and consist of an “umbrella” Strategic Partnership Project Agreement (SPP) and an “umbrella” Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), each with Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), DOE’s operating contractor for INL, with an initial duration of seven years. It is anticipated that the initial phase of work under the two agreements will culminate in irradiation testing in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) of fuel samples using enriched uranium supplied by DOE. The initial phase of work aims to generate irradiation performance data for Lightbridge’s delta-phase uranium-zirconium alloy relating to various thermophysical properties. The data will support fuel performance modeling and regulatory licensing efforts for the commercial deployment of Lightbridge Fuel. It is anticipated that subsequent phases of work under the two umbrella agreements will include post-irradiation examination of the irradiated fuel samples, loop radiation testing in the ATR, and post-irradiation examination of one or more uranium-zirconium fuel rodlets, as well as transient experiments in the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) at INL. “U.S. nuclear power generation is more essential than ever before in addressing climate change and achieving net-zero carbon emissions,” stated Dr. Jess Gehin, Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear Science & Technology at INL. “We are pleased to partner with American companies such as Lightbridge to utilize our unique DOE national laboratory resources to support the development of advanced nuclear fuel technologies that enables U.S. leadership in nuclear energy.” Seth Grae, President and CEO of Lightbridge, said: “Today’s announcement marks a major milestone for Lightbridge and our fuel development program. We look forward to working closely with INL, which Congress has designated as the nation’s lead nuclear energy research and development laboratory and is DOE’s lead nuclear fuel testing laboratory. Securing a long-term strategic relationship ...