Fluxnium Secures $7 Million Seed Funding to Extract Uranium from Seawater

Fluxnium, a clean technology startup, has officially launched from stealth mode, revealing its new approach to extracting uranium from seawater. The company recently completed a $7 million seed funding round to support the development and deployment of its technology.

The startup's method utilises specially designed polymer fibres to attract dissolved uranium from the ocean. This technology, which has been refined by Fluxnium, was initially developed at U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories.

Fluxnium successfully closed a seed funding round amounting to $7 million. The ocean is estimated to contain over 4 billion metric tons of uranium, which could supply nuclear fuel for approximately 50,000 years.

The cost of yellowcake, a form of unrefined uranium, has increased by 75% over the past five years. While initial demonstrations of the technology at a national lab showed extraction costs exceeding $200 per pound, Fluxnium aims to reduce these costs to be competitive with current Western suppliers by enhancing the fibres' surface area.

Jeff Green is the founder and CEO of Fluxnium. He is an experienced entrepreneur, having previously co-founded Stamps.com in 1996, desalination company NanoH2O in 2005, and carbon removal firm 1PointFive in 2020.

The seed round was led by Congruent Ventures. Additional investment came from Active Impact Investments and Constellation Energy, which operates the largest nuclear power fleet in the United States.

Fluxnium's technology addresses a critical need for diversified uranium sources, particularly as the U.S. aims to triple its nuclear power capacity by 2050. The current reliance on uranium imports from regions like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Namibia, Niger, and China presents geopolitical risks.

The emergence of Fluxnium is timely, coinciding with a resurgence in the U.S. nuclear industry, driven partly by tech companies seeking new electricity sources for their AI data centres. An economical method for extracting uranium from seawater could alleviate concerns about a potential structural shortage of uranium if demand continues to rise as projected.

The company's primary focus will be on further reducing the cost of uranium extraction by optimising the manufacturing and deployment of its polymer fibres. The process involves deploying braided fibres from buoys at sea for 30 to 60 days, similar to seaweed farming, before bringing them ashore for uranium elution.

Fluxnium plans to purify the extracted uranium into yellowcake for sale into the existing supply chain. The reusability of the extraction lines and the continuous effort to drive down supply chain costs will be key to the technology's long-term viability and competitiveness.