U.S. SuperCritical Materials Corp. Completes Independent Engineering Assessment of Seawater Uranium Extraction Platform

SuperCritical Materials Corp. announced on August 26 that Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) has completed an independent engineering assessment of its seawater uranium extraction platform. The assessment covered the uranium extraction platform, deployment architecture, offshore operation plans, uranium recovery process, commercialization pathway, and key engineering conditions required for future large-scale deployment.

The assessment reviewed SuperCritical Materials' conceptual production plan. Under this plan, the system would use approximately 10,000 metric tons of adsorbent and operate on a continuous 21-day deployment cycle, capable of providing feedstock support for a uranium processing facility with an annual output of 1.85 million pounds of triuranium octoxide (U3O8).

The assessment concluded that the company's Deployment and Recovery System (DRS), featuring a modular design, offers scalability and can interface with existing offshore infrastructure, potentially supporting continuous production operations and providing a viable engineering pathway for large-scale seawater uranium extraction.

Alexander Cannon Bryan, President and Chief Executive Officer of SuperCritical Materials, stated that this study demonstrates a feasible engineering pathway from laboratory-stage technological innovation to industrial-scale nuclear fuel production infrastructure.

The assessment also compared multiple offshore deployment options, including platform-based systems, vessel-based systems, and subsea oilfield deployment configurations. The analysis aimed to validate the potential of different approaches in meeting commercial uranium extraction requirements in terms of seawater contact volume, operational flexibility, and scalability.

In addition to deployment architecture, the assessment reviewed the company's uranium recovery process. The process employs unit operations well established in the uranium industry, including elution, reverse osmosis concentration, precipitation, and yellowcake production. The report concluded that further adoption of mature uranium industry practices could optimize the process, reduce capital intensity and operating costs, and improve overall project economics.

SuperCritical Materials stated that this review represents the first phase of its engineering and commercialization plan. Under the subsequent plan, the company will model operating costs for various deployment configurations and conduct capital cost estimation and economic assessments.

The company also plans to advance multiple development efforts, including adsorbent mechanical property characterization and deployment implementation testing led by the University of Michigan, scaling up adsorbent production, improving adsorbent performance, optimizing uranium recovery and processing flows, as well as regulatory and licensing activities.

SuperCritical Materials is developing modular offshore production systems aimed at extracting uranium resources dissolved in seawater. The company states that global seawater contains approximately 4.5 billion metric tons of dissolved uranium resources, and future efforts will focus on validating system operational performance, clarifying project economics, and advancing commercial deployment.