Lightbridge (NASDAQ:LTBR) used its fiscal 2025 business update and conference call to highlight a series of technical milestones in the development of its advanced nuclear fuel, alongside a significantly strengthened cash position intended to support continued testing and regulatory engagement.
Fuel development milestones and irradiation testing
Chief Executive Officer Seth Grae said 2025 was “a transformative year” in which the company “shifted into a high gear on execution across multiple critical fronts.” A central achievement was the start of irradiation testing of enriched uranium-zirconium alloy fuel material samples at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Grae characterized the program as a pivotal step toward demonstrating material performance and generating data to validate key properties of the company’s target fuel alloy.
- Review of Lightbridge’s fuel qualification plan
- RELAP5-3D code development work for Lightbridge Fuel
- BISON code development work for Lightbridge Fuel
- Post-irradiation examination of Lightbridge Fuel material coupon samples
Vice President of Engineering Scott Holcombe provided a timeline of steps leading to irradiation. He said the company completed the final design review for its ATR irradiation experiment in June 2025, describing it as a rigorous multidisciplinary review in which neutronics, thermal hydraulics, and mechanical design parameters were independently approved by INL subject matter experts.
Holcombe also said Lightbridge announced in June that it would use the “fission accelerated steady state test method,” or FAST, which uses higher enriched uranium (in the range of 26% to 30%) within test specimens to accelerate the rate of fission and compress the testing timeline versus conventional irradiation methods. According to Holcombe, this approach is intended to help the company reach target burnup levels more efficiently and generate performance data needed for Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing in a commercially relevant timeframe.
In July, Holcombe said Lightbridge successfully produced enriched uranium-zirconium alloy coupon samples using its proprietary co-extrusion process, which he said is the same process the company envisions using at commercial scale. He added that by October, capsules containing the samples were loaded into an experiment assembly that was then inserted into the ATR, and in November, irradiation testing began.
Holcombe said the company expects the initial batch of partially irradiated samples to be discharged from the ATR in the April-May timeframe, with post-irradiation examination expected to begin later this year. He said the examination will evaluate structural integrity, dimensional stability, fission gas behavior, thermal conductivity, and overall performance of the fuel samples.
Technical outreach and conference presentations
Mushakov noted the company presented three technical papers at the TopFuel 2025 conference organized by the American Nuclear Society. Holcombe said the conference was held in Nashville, Tennessee, in October 2025, and summarized the findings described in the papers:
- One paper concluded Lightbridge’s metallic fuel design remained within safe temperature limits after a simulated locked rotor accident, which Holcombe said strengthens the safety case for future regulatory approval.
- A second paper compared Lightbridge’s fuel material with conventional UO2 using an OECD NEA transient simulation and indicated “significantly larger safety margins,” which Holcombe said could translate into greater operational flexibility and improved plant economics for utilities.
- A third study addressed modeling of the fabrication process and, according to Holcombe, showed the company’s co-extrusion fabrication process could be accurately modeled using experimental data from INL, supporting efforts to verify and optimize fabrication models.
Holcombe said the three papers collectively support engagement with regulators, production partners, and utility customers, while noting that significant work remains around fuel performance testing and regulatory qualification.
Expanded internal capabilities and near-term priorities
Mushakov said Lightbridge has “significantly beefed up” its in-house fuel development team across multiple disciplines, including neutronics, thermal hydraulics and safety analysis, fuel performance, mechanical engineering, materials, regulatory licensing, and program management. He said the expanded team is intended to support the next phase of fuel development and planned engagement with the NRC, which the company expects to begin this year.
Looking ahead over the next two to three years, Mushakov listed several priorities, including continued irradiation testing and post-irradiation examination, refinement of the Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table analysis and fuel qualification plan, continued development of the co-extrusion fabrication process for rodlets and full-length rods, site selection and initial deployment planning for the company’s expandable fuel facility, and thermal hydraulics modeling and experiments to confirm pressure drop, critical heat flux, and other parameters.
Financial results and balance sheet update
Chief Financial Officer Larry Goldman said the company ended 2025 with approximately $201.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared with $40.0 million a year earlier. He said the increased cash position provides substantial resources to support operations “for an extended period, well beyond the near term.”
Goldman reported that Lightbridge used approximately $14.3 million in operating cash flow during fiscal 2025, reflecting investment in fuel development and an expanded team. On the financing side, he said the company raised $176 million in net proceeds through its at-the-market equity offering program. Goldman also said Lightbridge generated about $3.6 million in interest income from holdings in U.S. Treasury bills and cash in a bank savings account, up from $1.3 million in the prior year.
Goldman said the company continues to evaluate funding opportunities including strategic partnerships, government grants and contracts, and, as appropriate, additional capital market transactions. He also said Lightbridge maintains a debt-free balance sheet and that its capital structure includes no convertible securities or other dilutive debt instruments.
Policy backdrop and strategic context
Grae pointed to changes in U.S. nuclear policy as a tailwind. He said that in May 2025 President Trump signed four executive orders related to nuclear energy, including an order on reinvigorating the nuclear industrial base that directs the Department of Energy to facilitate power upgrades to existing nuclear reactors—an area he said aligns with Lightbridge Fuel’s design objectives. Grae also cited executive-order directives related to plutonium disposition in reactor fuel, nuclear power for military installations and critical infrastructure (including data centers), and prioritization of nuclear projects within the DOE’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing.
Grae also discussed broader market demand for nuclear energy, citing nuclear power’s roughly 18% share of U.S. electricity generation in 2024, and describing global reactor counts and pipeline figures. He said demand drivers include growth in data centers to support artificial intelligence workloads, clean energy goals, and energy security concerns. Grae said the company’s technology is designed for pressurized water reactors, including existing units and new light water reactors such as small modular pressurized water reactors, and argued that higher output from existing reactors could be among the most cost-effective ways to increase nuclear capacity.
Grae also referenced a memorandum of understanding signed in 2025 with Oklo Inc. to explore potential collaboration opportunities, including used fuel recycling and reprocessing, and said the effort aligns with policy initiatives around plutonium disposition and the nuclear industrial base.
The call did not include a question-and-answer session, with the company stating no questions were submitted.
About Lightbridge (NASDAQ:LTBR)
Lightbridge Corporation is a nuclear energy technology company focused on developing advanced nuclear fuel designs to enhance the safety, efficiency and economic performance of existing and new nuclear power reactors. The company’s core technology centers on a patented metallic fuel system that replaces conventional uranium oxide fuel pellets with a uranium-zirconium alloy, configured in a helical rod design. This proprietary fuel form is intended to enable higher burnup rates, reduced fuel cycle costs and improved thermal conductivity, thereby addressing key challenges in the global nuclear industry.
Since its inception, Lightbridge has conducted extensive research and development in collaboration with national laboratories, regulatory agencies and reactor operators.
