Raven-Flint U conversion plans land on NRC docket, in Launch Pad

Raven-Flint Nuclear Corp., which had a project selected by the Department of Energy for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, announced that its license application was docketed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company also announced that it has conducted successful tests of its processing method as it works toward developing a uranium conversion pilot plant.

Launch Pad: Raven-Flint was one of 12 companies picked in August for the second round of Nuclear Energy Launch Pad selections.

Participation in the program will give Raven-Flint access to Idaho National Laboratory's facilities, regulatory support, and expertise as it works toward deploying its conversion technology at commercial scale.

"INL is where much of our team built their expertise, and working inside the Launch Pad framework gives us a faster, clearer path from demonstration to deployment," said Nick Smith, cofounder and CEO of Raven-Flint.

Raven-Flint already had ties to INL through its selection for a Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) voucher in June. According to the project description, the company will collaborate with INL to develop an integrated mass-balance, material control and accountancy, and stream characterization for the company's uranium conversion pilot plant.

Smith is a former INL employee. He worked as the deputy director of the National Reactor Innovation Center and project director for the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment.

The process: Raven-Flint is planning its uranium conversion plant around a chemical process it has been developing, which allows for conversion without the use of elemental fluorine. This is expected to reduce costs, improve safety, and simplify permitting, the company said.

In February, Smith said in a post on LinkedIn that the company's process offers "40-50 percent lower capital cost, 60-70 percent lower energy consumption, and 43 percent lower chemical costs."

In its recent announcement, Raven-Flint said it had demonstrated this method and successfully produced uranium hexafluoride (UF₆).

Scaling up: In June, Raven-Flint submitted a letter of intent to the NRC to file an application to increase the amount of natural or depleted uranium it can hold at its headquarters and research laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho, up to 500 kg. According to the letter, the company currently operates at an administrative cap of 1.5 kg.

The Idaho Falls facility is used to conduct bench-scale demonstrations of chemical processes, and this application does not seek authorization to conduct commercial production, Raven-Flint said.

The company submitted its application in July, and the NRC requested additional information on August 24.

In the application, the company proposed capping its UF₆ on site to a maximum of 60 kg.

Raven-Flint said its next step will be to develop a pilot plant for small-scale commercial production. It is designing the plant to have a 500-ton annual conversion capacity per year. For comparison, the United States' only uranium conversion plant, Solstice Advanced Material's Metropolis Works facility (formerly Honeywell Metropolis Works) in Illinois, announced in February that it projected it would produce 10,000 tons of UF₆ in 2026.

Raven-Flint has signed a letter of intent with Aalo Atomics for conversion services beginning in 2028. Smith said Aalo is looking to take 100 percent of the pilot plant's output.

Following the pilot plant, Smith said the company is looking to scale up to a commercial plant with 5,000-10,000 tons of conversion capacity per year. He said the company expects this facility to be on line by 2030.

The market: Raven-Flint is not the only company that sees space for a newcomer in the U.S. uranium conversion market. FluxPoint unveiled plans for a facility in April, and Uranium Energy Corp. announced in March that it had received an NRC docket number for its planned uranium conversion facility.