Patent Approved!! Thursday, June 28, 2018, 7:00 AM ET
Lightbridge Receives Patent Approval for Advanced Metallic Fuel Rod and Fuel Assembly Design in Japan
RESTON, Va. , June 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ:LTBR), a nuclear fuel developer, today announced today that it has received a Notice of Allowance for a new patent in Japan related to Lightbridge's innovative metallic fuel rod and fuel assembly design. This patent is the latest addition to the Company's growing intellectual property portfolio and follows similar approvals in other markets worldwide.
The new patent is based on Lightbridge's 2014 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application and covers an alternative embodiment of a multi-lobe fuel rod design; an all-metal pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel assembly design incorporating multi-lobe fuel rods based on the alternative embodiment; and an all-metal PWR fuel assembly design incorporating multi-lobe fuel rods arranged into a mixed grid pattern, thereby covering the all-metal fuel assembly design after the most recent optimization.
Seth Grae, President & Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge Corporation, commented, "Japan represents an important market for our fuel. In particular, our fuel is designed to operate up to 1000 degrees C cooler and therefore does not reach temperatures to produce hydrogen during a design-basis loss-of-coolant accident. In addition, our fuel improves the operating economics of existing plants through increased power output and longer refueling cycles. As a result, we believe Lightbridge fuel will play an important role in Japan's nuclear plant restart efforts."
According to World Nuclear Association, Japan has 42 operable nuclear reactors, with a combined net capacity of 40 GWe. At the beginning of 2018, only five reactors had been brought back online, with a further 21 in the process of restart approval following the Fukushima accident in 2011. In the past, nuclear power accounted for 30% of the country's electricity.