US clean tech startup Fluxnium has developed a technology designed to extract uranium from seawater potentially opening up a vast additional source of fuel for the nuclear power industry.
The startup, which had been operating in stealth, has licensed chemistry developed at US Department of Energy national laboratories and is working to reduce the cost of extracting uranium from seawater. Fluxnium recently raised $7 million in a seed funding round led by Congruent Ventures, with participation from Active Impact Investments and Constellation Energy which operates the largest nuclear power fleet in the United States.
The development comes as the US seeks to expand nuclear power capacity. However rising uranium prices and the concentration of global production in a relatively small number of countries have raised concerns about future fuel supplies.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, prices for yellowcake, a form of partially processed uranium, have risen by about 75 per cent over the past five years. Global uranium production is also concentrated in countries including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Namibia, Niger and China, creating potential geopolitical and supply chain risks.
Fluxnium approach focuses on uranium naturally dissolved in seawater. The oceans contain more than 4 billion metric tonnes of uranium, according to estimates cited by the company, although the concentration is extremely low.
The company technology uses specially engineered polymer fibres that attract uranium ions from seawater. Fluxnium has focused on increasing the surface area of the fibres so that they can capture more uranium during each deployment.
The fibres are formed into long braided lines and suspended from buoys offshore. After remaining in the ocean for roughly 30 to 60 days, the lines are brought back to shore, where the uranium is removed from the material. The fibres can then be reused multiple times.
The extracted uranium is subsequently purified into yellowcake, which can enter the conventional nuclear fuel supply chain.
The technology builds on earlier research at US national laboratories. According to Fluxnium founder and CEO Jeff Green earlier demonstrations had put the extraction cost at more than $200 per pound of uranium. The startup says increasing the fibres’ surface area has helped improve uranium recovery and reduce the projected cost.
A significant portion of the economics, however, depends on manufacturing the fibres and deploying and recovering them from the ocean. Fluxnium is continuing to work on these aspects as it attempts to make seawater extraction competitive with conventional uranium mining.
The company says its process does not produce the toxic mining tailings associated with conventional uranium extraction. However, the technology is still being developed, and its ability to operate economically at large scale remains to be demonstrated.
Fluxnium’s work comes amid renewed interest in nuclear energy including from technology companies seeking reliable electricity for energy intensive artificial intelligence data centres. If demand for nuclear power grows as projected, the availability and cost of uranium could become increasingly important to the expansion of the sector.
For Fluxnium, the objective is not to create an entirely new uranium extraction method, but to combine existing technologies in a configuration that can lower costs enough to make seawater a commercially viable source of nuclear fuel.