Donald Ainscow, ASP Isotopes executive vice president; Paul Mann, ASP Isotopes chairman and CEO; Mesut Uzman, Fermi America's chief nuclear construction officer; and Ryno Pretorius, Quantum Leap Energy CEO.
Since Texas Tech University and Fermi America made a big splash unveiling their plans for the Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus in June, news has been quiet.
At the time, the company promised to make the 5,769-acre site in Amarillo, Texas, “the largest nuclear power complex in America.” Now, with the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding and the hiring of two nuclear professionals, Fermi America’s cofounders—former Texas governor and energy secretary Rick Perry and his son, Griffin Perry—are one small step closer to achieving their ambitious goals.
The MOU: Last week, Fermi America entered into a nonbinding joint venture MOU with ASP Isotopes (ASPI) and its subsidiary, Quantum Leap Energy (QLE), to investigate future collaboration on the research, development, and commercial production of advanced nuclear fuels at Texas Tech’s campus.
According to a press release from ASPI, the MOU also puts forward the possibility of QLE and Fermi America forming a new company that will pursue the construction an advanced enrichment facility for the production of HALEU.
Finally, the MOU contemplates ASPI, a company that defines itself as a “development-stage advanced materials company,” entering a separate lease for the development of an enrichment research and production facility that would focus on advanced materials other than nuclear fuels. This project would be 100 percent owned by ASPI.
New hires: Alongside this development, Fermi America has expanded its nuclear leadership with the hiring of Mesut Uzman, who will serve as chief nuclear officer, and Sezin Uzman, who will serve as vice president of nuclear supply chain and compliance. The Uzmans have a combined 40 years of experience in the nuclear industry and most recently held leadership roles in the construction of Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.
Quotable: Paul Mann, CEO of ASPI and chair of QLE, said, “During the last three years, ASP Isotopes has constructed three isotope enrichment facilities in South Africa to produce isotopes to enable faster semiconductors and next-generation cancer therapies. As a U.S. company, our goal has always been to bring these technologies to the United States to ensure that the United States has a domestic supply of these materials and reduce its reliance on imports from other countries.”
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