Lightbridge Receives Notice of Allowance for a Korean Patent Covering Its Mixed-Grid Nuclear Fuel Assembly Design

The allowed claims extend protection beyond the specific rectangular-and-triangular grid combination covered by the earlier Korean patent.

Rhea-AI Summary

Lightbridge (Nasdaq: LTBR) received a Korean patent allowance covering 17 claims for its mixed-grid nuclear fuel assembly design. The patent will be registered upon payment of the registration fee.

The allowed claims cover fuel elements arranged using two different grid patterns, without requiring particular grid shapes. This broadens protection beyond the related Korean patent announced in August 2022, which required rectangular and triangular grids. The assembly’s outermost fuel elements form a substantially circular perimeter, a bundle shape used in pressurized heavy water reactors, including CANDU-type designs.

Positive

• Minor pointKorean allowance covers 17 claims for Lightbridge’s mixed-grid nuclear fuel assembly.
• Minor pointAllowed claims provide broader protection than the related 2022 Korean patent by removing specific grid-shape requirements.

Negative

• Minor pointPatent registration remains dependent on payment of the registration fee.

Key Figures

Claims covered: 17 claims Fuel elements in dependent claims: 19 and 61 fuel elements

Claims covered

17 claims

Korean patent application for a mixed-grid fuel assembly

Fuel elements in dependent claims

19 and 61 fuel elements

Covered bundle configurations

Key Terms

fuel assembly, pressurized heavy water reactors, burnable poison rods, divisional

4 terms

fuel assembly technical

"titled “Nuclear Fuel Assembly.”"

A fuel assembly is a bundled group of long metal rods that hold small pellets of nuclear fuel and are placed inside a nuclear reactor to produce heat for power generation. For investors, fuel assemblies matter because their design, availability, replacement schedule and safety performance directly affect a plant’s output, operating costs, downtime risk and regulatory standing — analogous to the critical battery packs and spare parts that keep a factory running.

pressurized heavy water reactors technical

"the bundle shape used in pressurized heavy water reactors"

A pressurized heavy water reactor is a nuclear power reactor that circulates heavy water (water where hydrogen atoms are the isotope deuterium) under high pressure so it does not boil while removing heat from the reactor core; the same heavy water also slows (moderates) neutrons to sustain the fission chain reaction. Because heavy water is a very efficient moderator, these reactors can operate using natural or only lightly enriched uranium fuel and achieve a high neutron economy; a practical consequence is higher fuel flexibility but greater upfront cost and complexity from sourcing and handling heavy water and maintaining a pressurized primary coolant system.

burnable poison rods technical

"conventional pelleted fuel rods, or burnable poison rods."

Fuel-assembly components that contain a neutron-absorbing material (commonly gadolinium, boron, or similar isotopes) embedded in rods and placed with reactor fuel so their absorption of neutrons reduces the core’s initial excess reactivity. The absorbent material is consumed or transmutes during operation — “burning” away over the fuel cycle — so the rods provide strong reactivity suppression early in life and gradually lose effectiveness, allowing the reactor to maintain a more even neutron flux and power distribution without relying solely on mechanical control rods or lower fuel enrichment.

divisional regulatory

"The application is a divisional in the same Korean patent family"

Relating to a company's division: a divisional activity, result, or structure belongs to one of the distinct internal business units that a company organizes around products, markets, customers, or geography. A division typically has its own management, operations and performance measures but usually remains part of the parent company for legal and reporting purposes, so divisional figures are often included within consolidated financial statements unless the division is a separate legal entity or formally spun off.

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RESTON, Va., Oct. 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lightbridge Corporation (“Lightbridge” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: LTBR), an advanced nuclear fuel technology company, today announced that it has received a Notification of Patent Grant from the Korean Ministry of Intellectual Property (“MOIP”), formerly the Korean Intellectual Property Office, for Korean Patent Application No. 10-2025-7001591, titled “Nuclear Fuel Assembly.” The application covers 17 claims directed to a fuel assembly in which the fuel elements are arranged in a mixed grid pattern that combines two different grid patterns. The patent will be registered upon payment of the registration fee.

The allowed claims describe a fuel assembly in which the outermost fuel elements form a substantially circular perimeter, the bundle shape used in pressurized heavy water reactors, including CANDU-type designs. Each fuel element has a multi-lobed profile with spiral ribs, and the ribs of neighboring elements touch at intervals along the assembly length to help hold the elements in position. Dependent claims cover bundles of 19 and 61 fuel elements inside a circular or twelve-sided shroud, grid patterns that alternate along concentric circles, and assemblies that combine four-lobe Lightbridge fuel rods, conventional pelleted fuel rods, or burnable poison rods.

The application is a divisional in the same Korean patent family as the patent Lightbridge announced in August 2022, which required the mixed grid to pair a rectangular grid pattern with a triangular grid pattern. The newly allowed claims cover the mixed grid pattern itself, without requiring any particular grid shape, which gives Lightbridge broader protection in South Korea regarding how its fuel elements can be arranged within a bundle.

South Korea operates 26 reactors that supply about one-third of the country’s electricity, including three CANDU 6 pressurized heavy water reactors at the Wolsong site, according to the World Nuclear Association. The government’s 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand calls for nuclear power to rise from 30.7% of generation in 2023 to 35.2% in 2038, supported by two new large reactors.

“South Korea is one of the few countries that operates both pressurized water and pressurized heavy water reactors, and it builds and exports its own reactor designs, so patent coverage there supports both our light water and CANDU fuel designs,” said Seth Grae, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge Corporation. “Our 2022 Korean patent protected one specific combination of rectangular and triangular grids. These claims broaden patent protection to include the mixed-grid approach.”

Lightbridge’s fuel technology is backed by an extensive worldwide patent portfolio spanning jurisdictions representing the majority of global nuclear generating capacity.

About Lightbridge Corporation 
Lightbridge Corporation (Nasdaq: LTBR) is focused on developing advanced nuclear fuel technology essential to delivering abundant, zero-emission, clean energy and providing energy security to the world. The Company is developing Lightbridge Fuel™, a proprietary next-generation nuclear fuel technology for existing light-water and pressurized heavy-water reactors, significantly enhancing reactor safety, economics, and proliferation resistance. The Company is also developing Lightbridge Fuel for new small modular reactors to deliver the same benefits, plus load-following with renewables, on a zero-carbon electric grid.

Lightbridge has entered into two long-term framework agreements with Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, the United States Department of Energy’s operating contractor for Idaho National Laboratory, the United States’ lead nuclear energy research and development laboratory. DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear program has twice awarded Lightbridge to support the development of Lightbridge Fuel over the past several years. An extensive worldwide patent portfolio backs Lightbridge’s innovative fuel technology. Lightbridge is included in the Russell 2000®, Russell 3000®, and Solactive Global Uranium and Nuclear Components Total Return Indexes. For more information, please visit www.ltbridge.com.

To receive Lightbridge Corporation updates via e-mail, subscribe at https://www.ltbridge.com/investors/news-events/email-alerts  

Lightbridge is on YouTube. Subscribe to access past demonstrations, interviews, and other video content at https://www.youtube.com/@lightbridgecorporation

Lightbridge is on X (formerly Twitter). Sign up to follow @LightbridgeCorp at http://twitter.com/lightbridgecorp. 

Forward Looking Statements 

With the exception of historical matters, the matters discussed herein are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations on the date of this news release and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from such estimates. The risks include, but are not limited to: Lightbridge’s ability to commercialize its nuclear fuel technology; the degree of market adoption of Lightbridge’s product and service offerings; Lightbridge’s ability to fund general corporate overhead and outside research and development costs; market competition; our ability to attract and retain qualified employees; dependence on strategic partners; demand for fuel for nuclear reactors; Lightbridge’s ability to manage its business effectively in a rapidly evolving market; the availability of nuclear test reactors and the risks associated with unexpected changes in Lightbridge’s fuel development timeline; the increased costs associated with metallization of Lightbridge’s nuclear fuel; public perception of nuclear energy generally; changes in the political environment; risks associated with war in Europe; changes in the laws, rules and regulations governing Lightbridge’s business; development and utilization of, and challenges to, Lightbridge’s intellectual property; risks associated with potential shareholder activism; potential and contingent liabilities; as well as other factors described in Lightbridge’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Lightbridge does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. 

A further description of risks and uncertainties can be found in Lightbridge’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, and in its other filings with the SEC, including in the sections thereof captioned “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements,” all of which are available at http://www.sec.gov/ and www.ltbridge.com.  

Investor Relations Contact: 
Matthew Abenante, IRC 
Senior Director of Investor Relations & Capital Markets  
Tel: +1 (347) 947-2093  
ir@ltbridge.com

FAQ

AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

What does Lightbridge’s new Korean patent allowance cover?

The allowance covers 17 claims for a nuclear fuel assembly combining two different grid patterns. Unlike the related Korean patent announced in August 2022, the newly allowed claims do not require the combination of rectangular and triangular grids.

Has Lightbridge’s newly allowed Korean patent been registered?

The patent will be registered upon payment of the registration fee. Lightbridge has received a Notification of Patent Grant from the Korean Ministry of Intellectual Property for Application No. 10-2025-7001591, titled “Nuclear Fuel Assembly.”