LIS Technologies: The Future of U.S. Nuclear Energy and Why Investors Should Care
Whether they dabble in nuclear energy stocks or have committed themselves by finding private companies, many investors always hope to spot the next big thing before anyone else does.
While it’s impossible to predict which companies will rise to prominence in a few years, energy-savvy investors have recently been turning their attention to LIS Technologies, a company that specializes in laser uranium enrichment.
Why uranium enrichment, and why now?
To protect national security, the United States banned the import of Russian uranium for nuclear fuel in 2024. To fill that sudden vacuum and pave the way for a stable domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, the U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded six separate contracts to businesses in the nuclear energy industry. The program has a total funding of $3.4 billion and is slated to be distributed over the next decade.
One of those contracts was awarded to LIS Technologies, which is supported by NANO Nuclear Energy and designs and develops advanced portable microreactors. Other awardees include U.S.-based energy companies American Centrifuge Operating LLC (Centrus), General Matter Inc., Louisiana Energy Services LLC, and Orano Federal Services LLC.
Many people hear the word “nuclear” and think of atomic weapons. However, LIS Technologies is firmly committed to creating fuel for peaceful uses only.
“We’ll create in a single stage, LEU (low-enriched uranium) which is up to 5% U-235, and then in two stages, we’ll go to HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) which is up to 20%,” says Jay Yu, Executive Chairman and President. “We’re not looking to go beyond 20%, that is off limits. That’s not part of our game plan. We’re building nuclear fuel for peaceful use.”
The U.S. government isn’t the only entity willing to bet on domestic nuclear energy. A recent funding round for LIS Technologies raised $22 million in their series A round while still at the beginning of their contract with the Department of Energy LEU acquisition program.
Often, new companies have a hard time raising capital because of new and relatively unproven technologies. While the Department of Energy’s focus is back on domestic uranium enrichment and nuclear energy is fresh, the technology itself isn’t.
LIS Technologies co-founder Jeff Eerkens developed the CRISLA (Condensation Repression by Isotope Selective Laser Activation) process of uranium enrichment in the 1970s, and fellow co-founder Christo Liebenberg believed in the technology and the commercialization potential of it.
CRISLA was well on its way to being developed until uranium enrichment prices fell drastically back in the 1990s, many countries stopped development of nuclear technologies and opted to import Russian-enriched uranium instead.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia flooded the market with inexpensive enriched uranium, and it made more financial sense for the U.S. to purchase it on the international market.
“We were the world’s biggest exporter of nuclear fuel and nuclear services,” says Liebenberg. “Then we decided we could just buy it on the international market. Our CRISLA development was stopped in 1993. That’s why the whole U.S. nuclear industry came to a standstill.”
Now, LIS Technologies is looking to pick up where it left off. Many conscientious investors want to use their money to support environmentally friendly causes. Nuclear energy is a technology that can accommodate the growing demand for power while reducing negative environmental impacts on certain areas.
“Right now, the U.S. is producing 100 gigawatts of electricity every year,” says Liebenberg. “The projection is that by 2050, we need three times that amount. It took them a decade or longer just to build these last two nuclear power plants in Georgia — 10 years or more to build two plants. Now, we need to build 200 more plants over the next 25 years. That’s about one plant every 90 days.”
That may sound next to impossible, but the LIS team is confident that the nuclear industry can meet its goal while reducing global warming.
“We want to help the nuclear sector produce new energy that’s clean so we can combat global warming and prevent the temperature increase,” Liebenberg explains. “The goal is to keep the temperature rise to less than one-and-a-half degrees.”
The future of energy in the United States looks brighter, safer, and cleaner.
