Lightbridge ($LTBR) attended the White House meeting today to discuss the DoE's new UPRISE initiative. This is about up-rating equipment at existing US nuclear plants as well as restarts. Lightbridge's participation shows the interest in retrofitting existing LWR plants with metal fuel, as I discussed in my recent report on the WNFM Conference. #uranium x.com/LightbridgeCorp/status… energy.gov/ne/articles/natio…

Remember when we used to create tutorial programs to show how new software algorithm concepts work called "Hello World" programs? The idea was simple, condense example code down to the most minimal form that still demonstrates the new concept, so that learners don't get distracted by implementation details. One of my favorite YouTubers, Dave Plumber (who created the Task Manager for Windows 95) has created a sort of Hello World program for the foundational AI concept called "Transformers". Maybe this is only cool for me (because I took a pdp-11 assembly programming class in 1983 and actually liked it), but implementing Transformers on a 6 MHz DEC VAX minicomputer with only 64K of RAM, brilliantly guarantees there is no superfluous complexity and the instructor stays focused. This is not only nostalgic, but Dave gives a great and concise explanation of how Transformers actually work, with not-so-subtle reminders that these algorithms are really not so new or magical. AI still has real fundamental limitations no matter how much it is scaled up or used as an excuse for layoffs. #aipower #AI youtu.be/OUE3FSIk46g

Summary of the energy-related conferences that I plan to attend this year. I particularly recommend Enverus Evolve (oil/gas) and the TNA Summit, which are also the lowest cost. January 20-22 PowerGen - San Antonio, TX powergen.com/ May 4-6 Enverus Evolve - Houston, TX enverus.com/evolve-2026/ May 11-12 Reuters SMR & Advanced Reactors - Austin, TX events.reutersevents.com/nuc… May 31-2 World Nuclear Fuel Market - Scottsdale, AZ wnfm.com/meetings/wnfm-52st-… August 4-5 Nuclear Opportunities Workshop - Knoxville, TN eteconline.org/now/ August 24–27 NEI/ANS NECX - Dallas, TX nuclearenergyconference.org/ September ? Texas Nuclear Alliance Summit - Austin, TX nucleartexas.com/ October 18-21 NEI Uranium Fuel Seminar - Houston, TX nei.org/conferences/ November 9-11 Fertilizer Institute Market & Logistics - Atlanta, GA tfi.org/event/market-and-log…

According to Bloomberg and India Times, a high-level memo has been leaked from an internal Russian document which details 7 points where Russian and US economic interests could converge following a deal to end the war in Ukraine. The memo mentions nuclear energy and raw materials, specifically. This memo could be bad news for uranium stocks this week, if Wall Street takes notice. Even though the word "uranium" is not there yet, I think that will soon become apparent. Pressure from nuclear utilities is increasing to re-normalize relations, to continue the pre-Ukraine war "good ole days" of $30/lb uranium, given the current circumstances of a looming ban on imports and very little progress in rebuilding US domestic fuel infrastructure. The headline at the moment is Russia re-embracing the US dollar again as part of a wide-ranging economic partnership with the Trump administration. The Kremlin wrote this memo, not Trump! If it's real, anything is possible. Also, the Atlantic Council will release a new report this week titled, "Negotiating with Putin’s Russia", which might provide more info. #uranium $CCJ $LEU $UEC economictimes.indiatimes.com… Areas Where Kremlin Memo Sees US and Russian Economic Interests Converge:

What is the uranium enrichment technology currently being developed by General Matter? Some of their recent statements and a big award from the DOE forced me to rethink this and I found something that changes my opinion on their viability. GM says their technology is novel but has a high TRL (technology readiness level). "Novel" rules out centrifuges and "high TRL" rules out laser enrichment. So what else could it be? I thought it was an electrochemical process, such as Ubaryon, but there is a better candidate - Gaseous Diffusion updated with modern technology. The old GD machines at Paducah used 50x more power per SWU than centrifuges. But, what if they were redesigned using modern tech? That 50x gap could be reduced considerably with higher quality porous membranes. Perfect membranes would require billions of precision 10 to 20 nm holes per inch. That was really hard to do in 1945. But, today it is routine in the semiconductor industry. Modern chip fabs can make nearly perfect membranes for higher efficiency Gaseous Diffusion of UF6. But, can silicon withstand corrosive UF6 gas? Not directly. However, aluminum metalization layers are commonly used on most chips today and Al does handle UF6 very well. It was used in the old GD machines. General Matter has its origins in silicon valley where they know what can be made in chip fabs. I worked in the semiconductor industry for 25 years. Remember inkjet printers? They work by squirting ink through an array of precision microscopic holes in a silicon chip. The biggest technical obstacle for GM would probably be demonstrating that they can handle the UF6 corrosion with aluminum metalization. The remainder of GD machines are basically just gas compressors and cooling equipment. That's the sort of conservative tech that fits DOE's mandate for supplier diversity to reduce risk. It's hard to know how far a perfect membrane could go to closing the power efficiency gap with centrifuges and laser enrichment. But, I now think General Matter could quickly become a serious competitor to GLE and Centrus Energy. If I'm right about this, it means that new GD machines will eventually populate the same building that used to house the old GD machines (and next door to GLE) in Paducah, KY. #Uranium #nuclear #silex $ccj $leu

NEI International Uranium Forum - Charleston, SC Part 1 This was my 4th year at NEI's International Uranium Forum and I know a lot of these people by name now. The mood was optimistic and exciting because of all the recent news and announcements. But, apprehension and trepidation still plague this industry that knows they are not ready for the fuel demand that is coming. We're still trying to understand the problem. Uranium is finally trading in $90/lbs range that miners have said they need to explore and build new mines, but it's still not happening. Why? Because, utilities have stepped back from long-term contracting. The larger ones have substantial inventories of EUP (enriched uranium product) in the US. It's the smaller players and newcomers that are scrambling to find alternative sources of supply. Many of them have big tech money behind them. What we're still not seeing is big tech financing uranium mines or conversion and enrichment plants, which continue to be the actual bottleneck. There was an honest shift in the presentation titles this year, acknowledging the looming shortages. All the new builds that are planned are finally forcing this issue to the fore: Onshoring Nuclear Fuel - Can the US Govt Deliver? Bridging the Uranium Supply Gap What Keeps You Up at Night? - Perspectives Across the Nuclear Fuel Cycle I'm not a lone voice crying wolf anymore. Everyone is discussing EUP supply problems (and HALEU) out loud now. But, it's a bifurcated problem, the large utilities have EUP inventories. It's the new players that are being forced to pursue recycling spent fuel and/or plutonium. Jonathan Hinze (UxC) gave us the annual update on the global uranium market from UxC. He emphasized how much uncertainty there is now with US government involvement plus the new demand from start-ups and non-utility customers (SPUT). His advice for fuel buyers is to be nimble, flexible and prepare for the unexpected. New uranium mines are notoriously difficult to start. LEU is now available from Urenco, which will create more demand and physical uranium holdings by financial players (SPUT) have become really large. He also said, "the emergence of advanced fuel cycles will greatly alter supply and demand dynamics" and "fuel recycling also seems likely to accelerate soon." I agree, but he won't talk about imports from China or the bifurcation of entrenched players with EUP and the newcomer have-nots. Dr. Kaajal Desai (WNA) presented the latest WNA World Nuclear Fuel Report. She said that although there is enough uranium for global needs now, new mines are not being built fast enough to meet demand in the next decade. They have long held that there is sufficient conversion and enrichment capacity, globally. But this year, they were compelled to finally segment the report into different geopolitical regions, which shows that Western countries are still way too dependent on Russian supply. WNA has reclassified how they account for secondary supplies of EUP due to major shifts in political alliances since the Ukraine war. It's about time. WNA now forecasts that conversion will remain under-supplied in the West, until 2040 and "there is significant risk of supply disruption". WNA has good data, but they're behind the curve in recognizing the importance of geopolitics. In the Bridging the Uranium Supply Gap panel, Lisa Aitken (Cameco) explained that uranium mining is still the long lead time item and they project a structural supply gap from 2030. New mines are needed. But, "long-term contracting is fairly anemic at 45 million lbs (for 2025)" and Cameco is still waiting for utilities to step-up contracting before they invest in new mines. It used to be that $45 was the price needed to incentivize new mines, then it was $60. But, now we are at $90, and the large miners are still waiting. There is still the collective memory of large assets being shut down and an expectation that trade polices are likely to shift again. Imports of EUP from China was still the elephant in the room that could not be discussed aloud, even though it was the hot topic last year, in Kansas City. So, I asked Paul Goranson about it. He has spent many hours trying to reconcile uranium import numbers from US customs data with what the EIA and China report. The US customs data alone shows that EUP imports from China continue to accelerate (more was imported in the first half of 2025 than for all of 2024). But, it is probably only the large utilities doing that. China imports significant quantities of EUP from Russia, about as much as US utilities imported from China, according to US customs data for 2024. Since China has enough indigenous capacity for their own needs, it appears US utilities are continuing to use China as a brokerage for Russian EUP. Utilities claim the data is flawed. Paul agrees there are errors, but has learned how to correct and interpret the EIA data. One example, is how EIA and utilities report purchasing Australian uranium, while none is shown in US customs reporting. This is because utilities take delivery outside of the US and change its origin designation to the country where it's converted and enriched, usually France. This is illegal for Russian EUP above the section 232 limits, but so easy to hide. Why is this important? Because Russia does not buy uranium from the Americas. They have lower-cost sources from their neighbors, which they then convert and enrich and sell as EUP to the US and Europe. What they don't sell directly to Western utilities now goes through China. The end result is that American uranium miners continue to be screwed. Moreover, inventories of EUP at larger US utilities is bigger than what is declared publicly. So, even though global production is still less than demand and Russian imports are "banned" by Canadian maritime sanctions, many Western utilities have still managed to accelerate EUP shipments from Russia/China and therefore still have significant inventories! A special Thank You to Paul Goranson for sharing his import data! Paul does not necessarily endorse all of my opinions on uranium. Drew DeWalt (General Matter) made some comments in a panel that reinforced my suspicion that they use the Ubaryon electrochemical enrichment process. Their parent company (OKAPI) is working on uranium mines in the US and Canada and General Matter is probably something like Silex's GLE subsidiary in the US. But, Ubaryon will never be a major competitor to laser enrichment technology. If it worked well, heavy water would not be so expensive. I also discussed the current situation with Dustin Garrow (Deep Yellow). Dustin is also still pessimistic about the continuing lack of investment in uranium mining, "Building new mines is the really huge problem long-term." Dustin thinks that the traditional nuclear utilities are going to be left behind because of their unwillingness to invest in the fuel supply chain. Big, behind the meter data center projects are being built around the utilities by tech companies with very different cultures and appetites for risk. Dustin attends some conferences that I miss, like the World Fuel Market. He quoted Malcolm Critchley (CEO at ConverDyn), who recently stated, "Still nothing much is really happening." Honeywell just completed the spin-out of ConverDyn as Solstice ($SOLS). It's interesting that UF6 is not even listed as a product on their new website, even though it is about 12% of revenues and hopefully they are going to expand Metropolis Works soon? Any announcement on that will be bullish for the miners. #Uranium $CCJ $SLX.AX $SOLS @GoransonPaul

I've got my travel plans set for the remainder of 2025: Texas Nuclear Summit - Austin 10/16 NEI Uranium Fuel Seminar - Charleston 10/28 The Fertilizer Institute - Charlotte 11/11 USNIC - New Nuclear Capital - NYC 12/2 (online) CG - Global Uranium Equity Summit - NYC 12/9 Maybe too much focus on #nuclear and #uranium? Perhaps, but it feels necessary right now.

I attended the DataCloud conference in Austin last week. This was primarily the folks who build data centers and fiber cable installations. Business is great, of course, and it was crowded. This is one of the few industry conference sectors seeing excellent attendance and many copy-cat conferences are popping up across the US. The huge topic is their power grid constraints. So, I assumed everyone would want to hear about the return of nuclear power and the TNA Summit, which is next month, just 2 blocks down Cesar Chavez Street? Well, not so much. Anytime I take a step away from nuclear industry people, it's still hard to find interest in nuclear, even in a technical and engineering crowd that really, really needs the power! I didn't want to believe I was getting the same old questions about nuclear waste and proliferation. So, you know Oklo's plan is to build lots of small reactors that run on spent nuclear "waste". Right? "Oh! Really?" DataCloud reinforced my view that the big tech investments into nuclear projects are largely an extension of solar and wind virtue-signalling, while bigger money is going to build gas-fired power and much of it behind the meter (like what Elon Musk already did in Nashville). With this plan, it makes sense to start with announcements of projects with names like "The Crane Clean Energy Center". Big Tech has gambled that the public will accept new nuclear (because it takes so long to build), but they also have to look credible to investors expecting AI growth which wind and solar can not handle. It seems like walking a tight-rope, but the open question of new nuclear build times provides them cover, for now. #Nuclear #Uranium #SMR

An important power struggle for the future of US nuclear is becoming public. President Trump's executive orders precipitated a meeting that detractors are characterizing as a "hostile takeover" of the NRC. Anonymous sources claim they are demanding the NRC now "rubber stamp" applications already reviewed by the DoD or DoE. And Trump fired Christopher Hanson, an NRC Commissioner with no explanation. Can he do that? Was Hanson an anti-nuke? Yes, and Hanson was appointed by anti-nuke bureaucrats in sheep's clothing. Surprise! Trump is following through with another item he said he would do, fix the NRC. What many forget is that the NRC was hijacked by anti-nukes for decades. They weren't blatant about it because the OBidens claimed to be pro-nuclear. But, the NRC was the gatekeeper that blocked all domestic builds, which also crippled advanced nuclear globally. There is also a multi-state lawsuit progressing which claims the atomic energy act of 1954 never gave the feds authority to regulate SMRs, because they are small. Trump may yet save the US nuclear industry, despite itself, but it won't be pretty and it won't be reported truthfully. Most writers today are still in denial about the 12 profoundly wasted years and they don't know history. #uranium #nuclear #SMR eenews.net/articles/doge-tol…

Don't miss this excellent #Uranium update from Bloor Street Capital. The conversion and enrichment problem is mentioned a few times, plus the EUP imports from China continue. x.com/BloorStreetCap/status/…

Steffan (@UnoMasReactor) has been hosting a great new series of recordings on Spaces about #uranium miners and the whole fuel supply chain for #nuclear power. His perspective is on retail traders and investors in this space and it should not be missed by anyone holding these stocks! x.com/UnoMasReactor/status/1…

$OKLO shares jumped 29% yesterday! Why? Was it the "news" of another Notice of Intent to Award (NOITA) from the Eielson Air Force Base, in Alaska? It seems so, but a 29% jump on old news? This deal was announced 2 years ago and the NOITA is really just being re-issued and it's still not actually a done deal, either. The 2 year delay was because they discovered military contracting regulations that require competitive post-bidding negotiations. They didn't know about that? Was the jump because of President Trump's new executive orders? Maybe. The executive orders are great. But, they are not specific to Oklo. Oklo doesn't even build the sort of large reactors that are described by the orders. The orders will cut through some of the bureaucracy to build new nuclear on federal land, such as an Air Force Base. But, no one was protesting the Eielson AFB build site. Oklo's actual problems are they still need their first license from the NRC for their Aurora reactor and fuel designs and a HALEU fuel supply. Maybe the jump was because of a new (paywalled) article in Barron's yesterday, titled "Oklo Stock Is Upgraded to Buy. It’s About Nuclear Fuel, Says Analyst" It's about Seaport Research Partners' thesis on Oklo, which says their plan to recycle spent fuel is an advantage worthy of an upgrade to "Buy" with a $71 target price: "Oklo has the ability to “self-source its nuclear fuel given sufficient capital, regulatory approval, and access to SNF" Well, perhaps in 5 years. Oklo does plan to build their own fuel foundry to initially down-blend and then later recycle spent fuel as an eventual substitute for HALEU. But, there are several other (still private) ventures that actually have more advanced designs for recycling spent fuel, like Curio, Moltex, Metatomics and SHINE Technologies. Orano has been doing it for decades. This is a very nascent industry in the US, but some of these companies will eventually be selling recycled fuel to Oklo's competitors, or they could be acquired for a lot less than Oklo's $9 billion market cap. Oklo was granted the nuclear fuel for their first reactor at the INL (from down-blending) and fuel for the AFB will come from the DoD's stockpile. But, the third and fourth Auroras will be a problem. And Oklo just announced another $400 million in share dilution this morning! Perpetual dilution is also part of their plan. Oklo will need a lot of that because this amazing little company (120 people) will do everything themselves. They don't need banks, utility customers or fuel suppliers. Just perpetual Wall Street money. Oklo will become the Rosatom of Silicon Valley. Guaranteed to succeed by executive orders! x.com/ClayDMontgomery/status…

Controversy is swirling around the DoE's Loan Programs Office. They shoved a record $93 Billion of public money out the door in the last 76 days of the Biden administration, after the election. That's twice the amount of the previous 15 years! Due diligence was not done on many loans to start-ups that didn't even have a real business or a plan or a viable technology, according to Chris Wright, who testified on Capital Hill about reevaluating many loans, last week. Jigar Shah, the man that oversaw the loan office, doesn't see a problem. He's still bragging about it on podcasts. They were actively encouraging anyone with a half-baked idea to get in on the theft. The only requirement was reducing carbon. If you didn't have a company and an idea, the DoE's ARPA-E would give you one, to get your loan application moving. I've noticed how abandoned projects (like the Ivanpah solar collector in California), that received Billions in loan guarantees, quietly disappear off the DoE's website that allegedly tracks them: energy.gov/lpo/portfolio-pro… x.com/JigarShahDC/status/192… youtube.com/watch?v=yC4goW2t…