Lightbridge Corporation

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the LightBridge Corporation Business Update and Second Quarter 2023 Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Matthew Abernathy, Director of Investor Relations for LightBridge Corporation. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Lisa, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. The company's earnings press release was distributed yesterday and can be viewed on the investor relations page of the Lightbridge website at www.ltbridge.com. Joining us on the call today is Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer, along with Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer, and Andrei Mushakov, Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations. I would like to remind our listeners that any statements on this call that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Today's presentation includes forward-looking statements about the company's competitive position and product and service offerings. During today's call, words such as expect, anticipate, believe, and intend will be used in our discussion of goals or events in the future. This presentation is based on current expectations and involves certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from such estimates. These and other risks are set forth in more detail in Lightbridge's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lightbridge does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new developments or otherwise. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to our first speaker, Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge. Hello, Seth.

Well, thank you. Hello, Matt. And thank you all for joining us to discuss Lightbridge's second quarter results. I'm delighted to share our latest achievements and developments with you. On July 6th, we announced that Texas A&M University has been awarded approximately $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy University Program R&D Awards to evaluate thermal hydraulic performance of light bridge fuel in a new scale small modular reactor. The choice of Texas A&M University for this study speaks to their world-renowned standing in nuclear engineering education. Their expertise and research capabilities make them an invaluable partner for this project. We are proud to have them leading this critical study, and we are eagerly looking forward to this new collaborative project. The study planned to be conducted over a span of three years. is designed to develop a comprehensive understanding of how light-bridge fuel performs in a small modular reactor, an SMR, designed by NuScale Power. NuScale is a recognized global leader in developing SMRs, which are playing an increasingly important role in the move towards safer, more efficient, and flexible nuclear power. Partnering with us in this project is Structural Integrity Associates, which will perform the thermal evaluation of light-bridge fuel in the SMR using its Pegasus simulation software. This software represents a next-generation fuel evaluation and design optimization tool, which will provide us with detailed insights into the performance of our fuel under various conditions. I want to take a moment to express our gratitude to the U.S. Department of Energy Their financial support through the Nuclear Energy University Program R&D Awards has been instrumental in enabling this research and experimental work. This is the second year in a row that Lightbridge Fuel has been selected for evaluation in an NEUP study, as we continue to work today with MIT. These kinds of collaborative projects are an important component of advancing our nuclear technology understanding and capabilities. Overall, we are confident that this project will yield critical insights into the performance of light-rich fuel in new-scale SMRs. These insights will help inform our future research and development, and ultimately we believe they will contribute toward paving the way for widespread commercial adaptation of next-generation nuclear fuel technology, strengthening our ability to provide safe, efficient, and sustainable nuclear energy. In addition to our achievements in R&D, the U.S. government approved Lightbridge's request to join two pivotal public-private nuclear power partnerships. The first of these partnerships is with the Department of Energy's High Assay Low Enriched Uranium Consortium, or HALU Consortium. Achieving a national HALU stockpile and production capacity is a key step in supporting advanced nuclear energy technologies like the ones we're developing. The consortium is focused on streamlining the production and use of HALU in the U.S., aiming to promote energy security and sustainability, both of which are pivotal to our strategic vision. By joining this consortium, we are now part of an industry-leading group of companies and organizations focused on advancing availability of this critical feedstock material. I'll also just mention that just before we started this call a few minutes ago, the U.S. Senate voted on a bill to support increasing enrichment capacity in the U.S. for HALU, and it passed in the Senate, and the vote was 96 to 3, reflecting widespread bipartisan support for nuclear power. And then I also want to mention a second partnership that we've entered into with the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, SMR Working Group. This working group brings together industry leaders in the field of SMRs to facilitate international trade and cooperation. As a member, we gain opportunities to influence policies and initiatives that affect the SMR market, and we can contribute to setting global standards for this emerging industry. Given the rising demand for SMRs in Europe and globally, we believe this position working within the working group will help us understand better SMR-related technologies to see how Lightbridge Fuel could best fit into international deployment plans for SMRs, And additionally, I was reappointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, to the U.S. Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee, or CINTAC. As a member, I'll continue to provide advice for developing and administering programs to expand U.S. exports of civil nuclear goods and services. All of these partnerships place Lightbridge squarely at the nexus of public policy and private innovation in the nuclear energy sector. They will not only help us to continue to develop Lightbridge fuel, but will also give us an influential role in shaping the future of nuclear power, both in the United States and internationally. As we take meaningful strides in our development, we have also been strengthening our team with industry-leading talent. On April 25th, we were thrilled to welcome Dr. Scott Holcomb to Lightbridge as Vice President of Engineering. With his distinguished career and profound experience in the field of nuclear engineering and irradiation testing experiments, Dr. Holcomb brings a wealth of expertise that will be instrumental in driving our fuel development endeavors forward. Dr. Holcomb will not only provide technical leadership, but will also influence our strategic direction as we strive to redefine the future of nuclear energy. On April 3rd, we were equally delighted to have Sherry Goodman join our board of directors. Ms. Goodman is a renowned expert for her comprehensive knowledge and vast expertise in the intersecting domains of national security, energy, and environmental issues. Her inclusion in our board brings a unique perspective that will enhance our ability to navigate the complexities of a global energy landscape. In her role, Ms. Goodman will chair the newly constituted Energy Security and National Security Committee of the Board. This committee will play a vital role in advising our organization on matters of energy security and related national security issues, ensuring that we are not only providing innovative energy solutions, but are also contributing positively to the global energy security landscape. Turning to our strong patent portfolio, during the second quarter we received a notice of allowance for a divisional patent relating to Lightbridge's innovative metallic nuclear fuel assemblies from the US Patent and Trademark Office. This expands our intellectual property portfolio with more than 160 patents and is an integral component of the company's plans to commercialize Lightbridge fuel technology in the future. I'll turn the call over to Andrei Mushikov, Executive VP for Nuclear Operations, to review our ongoing fuel development activities. Andrei?