Lightbridge CEO Seth Grae was interviewed on the Schwab Network's Morning Movers by Diane King Hall to discuss the ongoing development of Lightbridge Fuel and the growth of the #nuclearenergy sector.
Questions asked in this interview
5
2:10I've heard, you know, upwards of a decade to do the build out. Is that accurate?
3:31So, when you think about, you know, is this about better economics or is this about speed?
4:35Where what is your relationship with Oklo like?
5:56What are the key metrics or performance indicators that investors should be looking for for delivery on the value proposition as it relates to nuclear?
7:26Is it about building new plants or getting more power out of the ones that exist?
Coming up, we'll be joined by the CEO of Lightbridge to discuss the growing demand for energy and the role nuclear power will play in meeting that need. That's next on Morning Movers.
Welcome back to Morning Movers. I'm Diane King Hall live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Join me now to discuss the rising global demand for energy and how nuclear power can play a role in that. We want to welcome in our next guest, that's Seth Grae, CEO of Lightbridge. Seth, thank you so much for joining us this morning. So, you know, it feels like this conversation about energy needs has taken a backseat recently because of all the focus on crude oil in light of the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East or war with Iran, I should say. The talk of nuclear making a comeback with AI driving a massive need for energy. Tell us where things stand with that now, Seth.
Well, there's obviously a focus on it with the war in Iran, as you say. We saw Qatar attacked in one site by Iran that knocked out 20% of global liquefied natural gas exports. There's nothing that could happen like that in nuclear. Nuclear power plants can store up to several years of fuel on site. So, it's really a very secure and reliable form of energy. And we're seeing new action following the president's executive orders in May. We now have this new initiative from the Department of Energy called Uprise that's focusing on bringing federal resources and working with the private sector on extending the licenses of the existing reactors, finish building partly built reactors, reopen closed reactors, and build new reactors. With a lot of federal financing brought to bear and benefiting from the new regulatory changes at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get all this done.
So, Seth, let me ask you this because the one thing I've heard about nuclear is yes, it can really meet the needs of the proliferation of AI and data centers, but the one challenge I've heard is the timeline that it takes years. I've heard, you know, upwards of a decade to do the build out. Is that accurate?
Well, that's where this Uprise initiative really changes things. By getting more power from the existing plants, we can very quickly get to a lot of reactors. This initiative is looking at adding about five large reactors worth of power by 2029 just by getting more power out of existing plants. And then soon after that or along that similar timeline, reopen three closed plants that are in the process of reopening. And what we're doing at Lightbridge in particular is focusing on a new fuel that could add tremendous new power to all of the existing plants. So, you could get a lot of new power without even building new plants. And by doing this, get trained workforce, activate supply chain, do things that have to be done to then build new plants more quickly.
So, Seth, your company essentially then focus on nuclear fuel, not building the reactors. So, when you think about, you know, is this about better economics or is this about speed?
Those two go together. This is in particular about speed, but in nuclear, because the capital costs can be so high, time delays cost the greatest amount of money. So, speed saves money. And as we get to building new reactors, generally by the time you build about five or six of the same kind of reactor, you've really honed them to what's called nth-of-a-kind where you know the cost, you know the time frame. Where the seventh one and the hundredth one cost about the same. So, getting through early builds gets quicker with each one, but after about the sixth one, you really can build at scale much more quickly. And that's what China and others have been doing and the United States is now moving towards.
7 more exchanges in this transcript
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Grae, S. (2026, March 25). Lightbridge CEO Seth Grae Interview on the Schwab Network - March 25, 2026 [Interview transcript]. Lightbridge Corporation. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1184666/
MLA
Seth Grae. "Lightbridge CEO Seth Grae Interview on the Schwab Network - March 25, 2026." Lightbridge Corporation, 25 Mar. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1184666/.
BibTeX
@misc{grae2026_1184666,
author = {Seth Grae},
title = {Lightbridge CEO Seth Grae Interview on the Schwab Network - March 25, 2026},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Lightbridge Corporation. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {mar},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1184666/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
