"Our business is not dependent on these grants however if a DOE Grant is awarded, it will help accelerate our project timelines through the Enfission JV with Framatome."
That quote answers two of the most important questions that I had for Seth...
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I won't be able to attend the conference call this Friday, but I'd appreciate it if someone would ask Seth two specific questions for me.
1) He outlined four near-term goals for 2019 in the last 10-K below. Which ones does he feel confident that he will reach this year? (And could he explain why he feels confident that he'll reach those goals?)
From the 10-K: Page 8: 2019-2020:
Near-term fuel development milestones:
--2019: Demonstrate fabrication of full length co-extruded rods using surrogate materials.
--2019: Enter into an agreement to manufacture material samples for test reactor irradiation.
--2019-2020: Enter into a Lead Test Rod agreement with a US electric utility.
--2019-2020: Place purchase orders for procurement of long lead time equipment items.
2) Is there was anything that could expedite the long-term goals he set out for 2020 - 2026?
Set forth below is our anticipated schedule for Enfission’s development and sale of nuclear fuel assemblies. Please see Item 1A, Risk Factors in this Annual Report, for a discussion of certain risks that may delay or impair the commercialization of nuclear fuel assemblies incorporating our nuclear fuel technology. Based on our current expectations, we anticipate that, either directly or through Enfission, we will:
--Enter into a Lead Test Assembly agreement with a host reactor in 2020-2022;
--Start test reactor irradiation of material samples in 2020-2022;
--Perform out-of-reactor corrosion experiments in 2020-2022;
--Start Lead Test Rod operation in a United States commercial reactor in 2022-2024;
--Establish a pilot-scale fuel fabrication facility for Lead Test Assemblies in 2022-2024; and
--Begin Lead Test Assembly operation in a commercial nuclear power plant in 2024-2026.
