Why Lightbridge Shares Are Soaring Wednesday

Lightbridge Corp LTBR shares are surging Wednesday after the company announced a significant milestone in its nuclear fuel development efforts.

What Happened: Lightbridge on Wednesday said it successfully performed a co-extrusion demonstration of a coupon sample consisting of an alloy of depleted uranium and zirconium with an outer cladding made of nuclear-grade zirconium alloy material at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

The co-extrusion process involved pressing a metallic alloy billet encased in zirconium alloy cladding through a die to produce a cylindrical rod approximately 8 feet long. The uranium-zirconium alloy used in the demonstration rodlet is the same composition that Lightbridge plans to use for its future commercial Lightbridge Fuel product.

The company said the demonstration represents a key fabrication milestone in its strategic partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) operating contractor Battelle Energy Alliance.

“This successful co-extrusion demonstration is a testament to the continuous progress we have made over the past year on demonstration of our fuel fabrication process in our collaborative efforts with INL,” said Scott Holcombe, vice president of engineering at Lightbridge.

“By integrating the uranium-zirconium alloy with nuclear-grade cladding material, we’re advancing the safety, efficiency, and performance of nuclear fuel, bringing us closer to commercialization and real-world deployment.”

The company’s progress paves the way for future production of coupon samples using enriched uranium and a planned irradiation testing program. The next steps in the process aim to generate irradiation performance data for Lightbridge’s advanced fuel and support regulatory licensing efforts for its commercial deployment.

LTBR Price Action: Lightbridge shares were up 24.9% at $13.54 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

This illustration was generated using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.