SuperCritical Materials secured an exclusive US Department of Energy license to commercialize patented uranium extraction technology, the company said Tuesday.
The Austin-based nuclear fuel and critical materials company obtained exclusive rights to a patented manufacturing process developed by US Department of Energy laboratories and research partners for the extraction of uranium and critical materials.
The technology, led by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and backed by the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy, has demonstrated the ability to extract uranium from seawater.
SuperCritical plans to deploy it first in the US before expanding to allied nations.
SuperCritical said US policymakers are shifting focus from advanced reactor deployment to expanding privately funded nuclear fuel-cycle infrastructure, including uranium supply, enrichment, High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium production and fuel fabrication.
SuperCritical said the world's oceans contain about 4.5 billion metric tons of uranium, more than 1,000 times the identified terrestrial reserves, creating an opportunity to recover uranium and other strategic materials through advances in adsorption technology.
The company aims to supply uranium and critical materials needed to support artificial intelligence, advanced computing, robotics, defense technologies, and other energy-intensive industries.