“Ultra Safe” Nuclear Corp. 1 Major Microreactor Developer Enters Bankruptcy

Ultra Safe” Nuclear Corp. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday . Beneath the finance jargon in the article, it appears the company will be divvied up and the various parts sold off. The one part of USNC that seems to have value is its TRISO fuel manufacturing subsidiary, which is building a pilot plant for making TRISO at Oak Ridge National Lab. A company named Standard Nuclear has put in a standing offer to purchase that division for $28 million, if USNC doesn’t receive any other offers.

The article also implies USNC’s other subsidiaries will continue pursuing the microreactor demonstration projects in Canada (at Chalk River) and the US (at Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). But it also says the company’s debts are greater than its assets, so it’s not clear how that would happen. Probably, USNC is holding out for a large company to swoop in and buy them out. But one piece the article doesn’t mention is that USNC has been threatening to sue the Dept. of Defense for the last 14 months to upset a procurement deal DOD reached with Oklo to supply a reactor to power the Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. DoD rescinded the deal with Oklo last year and has been slow to reissue the bid for the project. It’s possible that USNC’s bankruptcy will clear the way for DoD to reaffirm the deal with Oklo.

Not that Oklo is in much better condition to succeed. It’s stock shot up in the last month like most companies in the nuclear industry, but it has not announced any big investment deals or sales contracts, not even with ChatGPT, whose CEO is an angel investor in Oklo and chairs the company’s board.

Major Microreactor Developer Enters Bankruptcy Amid Nuclear Industry Surge Power, Oct 29, 2024,

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC), a developer of much-watched microreactor technology and advanced nuclear fuel, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move signals a critical restructuring phase through which the company will seek to secure new ownership while ensuring uninterrupted operations.

The company’s Oct. 29 filings at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware include its key subsidiaries: USNC-Power Ltd., which develops the company’s flagship 15-MWe (45 MWth) Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) technology; Global First Power Limited (GFP), focused on nuclear project development within Canadian markets; and USNC-Technologies, which leads USNC’s nuclear technology research and development initiatives. Each subsidiary plays a distinct role in USNC’s vertically integrated approach to advancing its Gen IV nuclear technology.

Process Designed to Keep USNC Operating

USNC’s petition is intended to facilitate a streamlined sale process under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, which would allow the Oak Ridge, Tennessee–headquartered USNC to offload assets while continuing to operate its existing projects under a court-supervised process………………………..

USNC is currently invested in two separate MMR high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) projects. In Canada, GFP is spearheading a 15-MWe MMR demonstration at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) Chalk River site in partnership with Ontario Power Generation. The project, which kicked off in 2019, is currently pursuing licensing, engineering and system development, and environmental assessment. Site work is slated to begin in 2026, with operations scheduled in 2028 or 2029. USNC is also developing an MMR that will be built and operated at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering as a Class 104(c) utilization facility for research and development purposes………………………………………………………………………………………………….
https://www.powermag.com/major-microreactor-developer-enters-bankruptcy-amid-nuclear-industry-surge/