Fluxnium raises $7M to pull uranium from seawater
What's the deal? FluxniumDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has closed a $7 million seed round led by Congruent VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to develop technology that extracts uranium from seawater. Constellation Energy also participated in the round.
How it works: The startup uses specially engineered polymer fibres, licensed from a Department of Energy national lab, hung from buoys at sea for 30 to 60 days. Uranium is then extracted without toxic tailings and purified into yellowcake for the existing supply chain.
Why now? Yellowcake prices have risen 75% over the past five years, and Fluxnium is pitching seawater as a domestic alternative. The ocean holds an estimated 4 billion metric tons of uranium — roughly a thousand times more than all identified hard-rock mines combined.
What could go wrong? Cost. Fluxnium's initial demonstration priced extraction above $200 per pound, so the company is working to increase fibre surface area to bring that down.
The signal: Constellation Energy's involvement points to nuclear operators hunting for secure fuel sources as prices climb. If the economics work, seawater could reshape where the nuclear industry sources its raw material.
Read more: cleanthesky.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
