Latest News

Previous SpaceX engineer seeks to assist end US scarcity of unique uranium fuel

Former SpaceX engineer Scott Nolan, CEO of start-up General Matter, is on an objective to assistance end Russia's monopoly on a kind of moreenriched nuclear fuel by producing it at industrial scale in the United States and slashing its expenses.

Nolan incorporated San Francisco-based General Matter this year in order to make high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, for a range of planned atomic plants including small modular reactors, or SMRs, that backers hope will take off in the 2030s.

HALEU is uranium enriched to in between 5% and 20%, which backers say has the possible to make brand-new modern reactors more efficient. Uranium fuel used in today's reactors is enriched to about 5%. Big Tech companies such as Amazon have plans to build brand-new reactors to serve power-hungry data centers.

Our company believe HALEU is the most immediate requirement in the market today, and the most sensitive to enrichment cost, Nolan told Reuters in his first media interview given that forming the business.

We are focused not only on reviving domestic capability, but on bringing the expense down significantly, Nolan said.

The objective of General Matters is to cut in half the cost of HALEU enrichment, long term, Nolan stated. HALEU is made mainly in Russia, and its rate is elusive. Estimates vary from $25,000. to $35,000 per kilogram of uranium.

The U.S. Department of Energy in October granted preliminary. contracts to four companies consisting of General Matters looking for to. produce HALEU in the United States - part of an initiative to. begin domestic production. The United States prepares to award. $ 2.7 billion in agreements for HALEU, based on Congress in. coming years, the department said.

General Matters, which currently has no facilities to. make uranium fuel, will deal with stiff competition from other. companies with experience and facilities in the uranium. market.

The other business with U.S. support are: Urenco U.S.A., a. European company with operations in New Mexico; Orano USA, based in. Maryland with international head office in France; and Centrus. Energy's subsidiary American Centrifuge Operating.

Critics of the use of HALEU have said that the level of its. enrichment suggests it is a weapons risk, and they advise. limiting its enrichment to 10% to 12%. Nolan said his business. will want to regulators to figure out the level.

Nolan is also a partner in Founders Fund, a venture capital. fund that was the first institutional financier in SpaceX and. that Peter Thiel, a popular fan of President-elect. Donald Trump, assisted launch.

Nolan stated he anticipates that atomic energy should and will. be an important part of Trump's efforts to expand sources of. baseload electrical energy.

SPACEX EXPERIENCE

Nolan operated at Elon Musk's personal aerospace company SpaceX. from 2003 to 2007. Nolan said his business's planned HALEU. production will share SpaceX's focus on establishing brand-new. technology and cutting expenses.

SpaceX combined individuals from Silicon Valley in the software. startup industry with the aerospace market, and assembled. these two skill sets, Nolan said.

We're doing something comparable, where we have deep. experience on the group from the fuel cycle in the nuclear space,. and are combining it with experience from the innovation. market to rethink the problem and come at it from a brand-new. direction, Nolan stated.

A General Matters representative stated Nolan has not remained in. contact with Musk considering that well before the idea of the business. was conceived in 2023.

Nolan did not reveal what kind of innovation General Matter. strategies to utilize to produce HALEU. Uranium production is dominated. by centrifuges that spin at high speeds. Some new players are. also trying to use lasers to produce uranium fuel.

Some are more commercially proven. Some are still to be. proven from a technology perspective that they can scale, Nolan. stated.

(source: Reuters)