U.S. SUPC Completes Independent Engineering Assessment of Seawater Uranium Extraction Platform

SuperCritical Materials Corp. (SUPC) of the United States announced on August 26 that an independent engineering assessment conducted by Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) has been completed. The assessment focused on the deployment architecture, offshore operation scheme, uranium recovery process, commercialization pathway, and key engineering conditions required for future large-scale deployment of SUPC's seawater uranium extraction platform.

According to the assessment, SUPC's conceptual production plan proposes the use of approximately 10,000 tons of adsorbent, operating on a continuous 21-day deployment cycle, to supply adsorbent for a uranium processing facility with an annual production capacity of 1.85 million pounds of triuranium octoxide (U3O8).

The assessment concluded that SUPC's deployment and recovery system features a modular design with expansion potential, can interface with existing offshore infrastructure, and supports continuous production operations, thereby providing a viable engineering pathway for large-scale seawater uranium extraction deployment.

SUPC President and Chief Executive Officer Alexander Canon Bryan stated that this study demonstrates a verifiable engineering pathway from laboratory-scale innovation to industrial-scale fuel production infrastructure.

The assessment examined multiple offshore deployment options, including platform-based systems, vessel-based systems, and subsea oilfield deployment. The analyses were designed to determine whether different options could achieve the seawater contact volumes required for commercial uranium extraction while maintaining operational flexibility and scalability.

In addition to deployment architecture, the assessment also reviewed SUPC's uranium recovery process. The process employs traditional unit operations used in the uranium industry, including elution, reverse osmosis concentration, precipitation, and yellowcake production. The report concluded that adopting mature uranium industry practices helps streamline processes, reduce capital intensity, lower operating costs, and improve overall project economics.

SUPC stated that this review constitutes the first phase of its engineering and commercialization plan, with subsequent phases to include modeling of operating costs for various deployment configurations, as well as capital cost estimation and economic evaluation. Related development work also includes 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 flowsheets, and advancing regulatory and licensing efforts.

SUPC stated that its platform aims to extract uranium resources dissolved in the ocean through modular offshore production systems. The company believes that, with growing demand for reliable baseload power, the long-term development of nuclear energy requires corresponding nuclear fuel production infrastructure support.