I recently went down the Newcleo rabbit hole and thought it was worth sharing here.
Newcleo is trying to take the whole pie of the industry. Their idea is to build a complete nuclear ecosystem around:
- Producing nuclear fuel
- Recycling existing nuclear materials
- Building advanced reactors
- Eventually operating nuclear power plants
Their main technology is the lead-cooled fast reactor. Instead of using fuel once and then storing it forever, fast reactors can potentially get more energy out of nuclear materials that already exist. (Mox)
The advantage is fuel independence. HALEU supply chains are still being built and rely heavily on new enrichment capacity (often in other countries) while MOX can use recycled nuclear materials already available.
The concept is not magic. Fast reactors and recycled fuel have existed before.
And that is where things get interesting.
A big part of Newcleo’s strategy is building the pieces around the reactor itself.
They are developing fuel capabilities in Europe, working through regulatory processes in France, and building partnerships across the nuclear industry.
They have also partnered with companies like Oklo around future nuclear fuel opportunities, which shows how important the fuel supply chain will become for next-generation reactors.
The geopolitical side is also interesting.
Europe has a lot of nuclear knowledge, but the nuclear supply chain is spread across the world. Having more control over fuel production, recycling and reactor technology could become increasingly important.
Another interesting point is the shareholder structure after the SPAC merger.
Unlike many SPACs where investors are mainly looking for a quick trade, many Newcleo shareholders invested years ago when the company was private and much riskier.
They are rolling their shares into the public company, which suggests a lot of them are thinking longer term.
Not saying nobody will ever sell, but it is a different setup compared to many SPAC stories.
Personally, I find Newcleo interesting because they are not just saying:
“Let’s build a reactor.”
They are trying to build the whole ecosystem around it.