Nano Nuclear Becomes Stock Darling Amid AI Boom

Bloomberg

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00:00Let's talk first about this deal that you've set up with Illinois, where you are building a

00:04manufacturing and R&D facility in the state. What is the timeline for this? Because these things can

00:09take years to build out. Yeah, so this demonstration of an office facility is a combination here. So

00:17we're setting up an engineering and development team there. We're planning to hire 50 full-time

00:22job, high-paying jobs out in Illinois. So this was an incentive for us to move in there. On top of

00:28that, we're strategically situated with and partner with the University of Illinois. So

00:33this was a natural fit for us to buy this facility, upgrade it, and hire high-paying jobs in Illinois.

00:43Now, you're not creating nuclear energy for the state of Illinois because you are

00:46kind of the IP and engineering phase of the nuclear supply chain more than anything else.

00:50What will this facility be used for? Yeah, it will be used for the demonstration site to assemble

00:56our Kronos MMR microreactor. So certain components that are non-nuclear will be assembled there

01:02as we await for the approval of our construction permit that we're planning to submit by Q1 of

01:102026. So we're looking to basically refine that, piece together our Kronos, and then once we pour

01:17concrete and steel, let's just say a year, a year and a half later, then we'll be ready to start

01:23building out full-scale Kronos MMR. Gotcha, gotcha. Now, your stock is down about 13% today because

01:29of this $400 million private placement of your shares. But if you look at what it's done so far

01:34this year, it's up almost double, and for the past 12 months, up about 200%. Does this price action

01:41surprise you at all? It doesn't because of the actual hyperscalers and AI and the data center

01:50noise that's out there. So the rush into this, I would say, hyperscaler area, the need for nuclear

01:57now is apparent. And the need for baseload energy, especially carbon-free energy, is very important

02:03to the U.S. The Department of Energy is pouring in billions of dollars to build back the U.S.

02:10infrastructure and nuclear. And nano is just a part of this solution for the future and the build back

02:16of the U.S. kind of national security for energy independence in the U.S. Yeah, but you guys have

02:23not yet turned a profit, so there is no P.E. Your price of book is 9.3, which is much higher than the

02:28industry average. And skeptical analysts say that for the nuclear sector, there are long lead times,

02:33persistent regulatory hurdles, and uncertain fuel supply. That could delay commercial projects

02:38into the next decade. How do you respond to that? Yeah, so this is why I think investors are very

02:44interested in nano. We're vertically integrated. So we have our own enrichment technology, which is a

02:49huge bottleneck in the U.S. We're partnered with List Technologies, which is a related party transaction.

02:57I am the chairman of that company as well. We actually have to separate the companies because

03:02enrichment poses a national security risk, a proliferation issue. So we would have loved to

03:08incorporate it into nano, but because of that security aspect, we have to separate the companies.

03:12So List actually has a laser that could enrich uranium at a cheaper cost in current centrifuges.

03:19So this gives us, once again, a more competitive edge versus our competitors and also the broader

03:25market. Nano does not have a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission yet. I know you're

03:30working on it. You've had some regulatory wins leading you to that. How far along are you in your

03:36effort to get a license? Are you in the second inning? Are you in the eighth inning?

03:39Yeah. What I would say is we're planning this month to drill at the University of Illinois on the

03:45campus to start breaking ground. So nano is coming to life. And we're going to use that data and we're

03:52going to submit that in Q1 for a construction application with the NRC. At that point, I believe

03:59there's no other commercial micro reactor company in the U.S. that has gone that far. It will take up to,

04:05I would say, 18 months potentially for that permit to be approved. And once it's approved,

04:11we could be pouring concrete. And it could be sooner now because with the Trump administration's

04:15executive orders, the mandate is to help expedite regulatory pathways and nanonuclear is in the

04:23forefront of that.

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