Lightbridge (LTBR) CEO on CEG & GOOGL Nuclear Energy Deal, Global Expansion

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

To discuss the future of nuclear energy, let's welcome in our next guest, Seth Grae, President and CEO of Lightbridge, who we've woken up very early this morning. Thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it coming live from Tokyo for us today. Well, maybe you haven't slept. I don't know what that happens at these nuclear conferences, but just explain exactly what Top Fuel is.

Seth Grae (0:22)

Well, Top Fuel is the world's leading nuclear fuel technology conference. It rotates once a year among Asia, Europe, the United States. Last year it was Nashville. This year it's in Tokyo, where we are now.

And it's where Lightbridge and other companies dealing with fuel technologies for reactors get to present scientific and engineering papers and then get them published.

SPEAKER_1 (0:48)

Okay, very interesting. What role can you remind our viewers exactly does Lightbridge play in all of this?

Seth Grae (0:55)

Well, very important. Lightbridge is the only company that has developed a truly new nuclear fuel. The kind of fuels used in reactors today were first used 69 years ago.

Lightbridge has developed a completely new nuclear fuel based on working with utilities that want to see more power from the existing reactors and more power from new reactors while enhancing safety. So what we're seeing now, like with the Google Constellation deal, is the rush to have the quickest new nuclear power that can be, and that's from adding more power to existing reactors. So last May, the president signed executive orders calling for more power from nuclear reactors. This year in June, I was at the White House for the launch of the Uprise Initiative, where the government is supporting more power from nuclear reactors. Two months ago, Lightbridge was awarded by the Department of Energy under what's called LaunchPad I&L to support deploying our plant that will make the first fuel for commercial reactors of this new type of fuel we've developed, and we're presenting here at Top Fuel in Tokyo, that will add the most new power possible for new reactors, the kind of power that data centers and others are looking for.

SPEAKER_1 (2:24)

Right, so you mentioned the Google Constellation Energy deal, obviously something we were covering last week. So if that is about using existing reactor fleet right now, how much of this existing stuff is there right now to utilize before we need to build the new stuff?

Seth Grae (2:42)

Right, so the deal between Google and Constellation Energy is about modifying current equipment in reactors that will get a bit more power out of each reactor. So they will get almost one new reactor equivalent of power by making these changes to 11 reactors. And that is limited, just how much they can do. But it is something they can do now.

So with the Lightbridge field, we will go way beyond that to produce much, much more power from the existing reactors, up to 20% more power from existing reactors, and then about a third more power from new reactors. So you could build three reactors and get the power of four.

SPEAKER_1 (3:31)

So the aim of your game is to make things effectively more efficient here.

Seth Grae (3:38)

It will make it more efficient. It will produce a lot more power from each of the existing reactors and the new reactors, and it will reduce the cost of electricity by producing more power from the same reactor. And there really isn't any other technology that could add as much power as Lightbridge fuel could.

SPEAKER_1 (4:01)

What are you hearing from other countries, given you're on the other side of the world right now, as to the progress that they're making? Obviously, it's a sensitive topic in Japan, as we know. But what are you seeing and hearing from other CEOs, particularly out in Asia? Because we know that China, for instance, doesn't have a problem with respect to getting energy and power right now.

What sort of understanding are you getting as to where the US is positioned right now in its nuclear ambitions?

Seth Grae (4:32)

Well, it's certainly very sensitive. Part of my trip here, I was in Hiroshima last year when I was in Japan. I was in Fukushima. And there are a lot of reasons why Japan is very sensitive about it. And a lot of people are looking to the US for natural gas exports and more nuclear power in the United States frees up more natural gas that can be exported. And world markets are paying more for natural gas than domestically in the US. So that's really a win-win for Americans. And with countries like Japan that have virtually no natural resources, that don't want to import their energy needs from Russia and are nervous about importing it through the Persian Gulf, there's a great desire to look at ways of producing power. So in Japan, they've reopened 13 of their reactors since they all closed at Fukushima.