--- title: Clean tech startup Fluxnium found a way to tap 50,000... description: Clean tech startup Fluxnium has developed a way to extract uranium directly from seawater using polymer fibers licensed from Department of Energy national... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/clean-tech-startup-fluxnium-found-a-way-to-tap-50-000-years-worth-of-nuclear-fuel-twjhqpqjk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Clean tech startup Fluxnium found a way to tap 50,000 years’ worth of nuclear fuel | daily.dev og:description: Clean tech startup Fluxnium has developed a way to extract uranium directly from seawater using polymer fibers licensed from Department of Energy national... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/clean-tech-startup-fluxnium-found-a-way-to-tap-50-000-years-worth-of-nuclear-fuel-twjhqpqjk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/twjHqPqjk.png og:image:alt: Clean tech startup Fluxnium found a way to tap 50,000 years’ worth of nuclear fuel og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Clean tech startup Fluxnium found a way to tap 50,000 years’ worth of nuclear fuel **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Clean tech startup Fluxnium has developed a way to extract uranium directly from seawater using polymer fibers licensed from Department of Energy national labs, potentially tapping an estimated 50,000-year supply of nuclear fuel. The company, founded by repeat entrepreneur Jeff Green, just closed a $7 million seed round led by Congruent Ventures with participation from Constellation Energy. By increasing fiber surface area, Fluxnium has driven extraction costs down from over $200 per pound demonstrated at national labs toward competitiveness with existing uranium mines, addressing supply concerns as most Western uranium comes from geopolitically sensitive regions like Kazakhstan, Russia, and Niger amid a broader U.S. nuclear power renaissance driven partly by AI data center demand. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does Fluxnium extract uranium from seawater? Fluxnium uses specially made polymer fibers, braided and hung off buoys similar to seaweed farming, that attract dissolved uranium from seawater over 30 to 60 days at sea. The fibers are then brought ashore, uranium is eluted without toxic tailings, and purified into yellowcake sold into the standard supply chain. Each fiber line can be reused multiple times, and the underlying chemistry was licensed from Department of Energy national labs. _Anyone tracking novel approaches to nuclear fuel supply can follow developments like this on daily.dev._ ### How much uranium is in seawater compared to land-based mines? The ocean contains over 4 billion metric tons of uranium, enough to power nuclear plants for roughly 50,000 years, according to Fluxnium founder Jeff Green, who described it as about a thousand times more than all identified hard rock mines combined. This vast reserve could reduce dependence on land-based mining concentrated in a handful of countries. _Developers curious about clean energy supply chains can keep up with stories like this via daily.dev._ ### Why is uranium supply considered a geopolitical risk for the nuclear industry? Two-thirds to three-quarters of the world's uranium supply comes from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Namibia, Niger, and China, creating concentration risk for Western nuclear plant operators. Yellowcake prices have risen 75% over five years, and rising demand from a nuclear power renaissance, partly driven by AI data center electricity needs, could leave supply structurally short. _Those weighing energy supply risk in tech infrastructure planning can track this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Working to eliminate barriers to adopting nuclear energy](https://daily.dev/posts/working-to-eliminate-barriers-to-adopting-nuclear-energy-zpxrvbbvg) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [X-energy rides nuclear wave, raises $700M Series D](https://daily.dev/posts/x-energy-rides-nuclear-wave-raises-700m-series-d-kztva7fvc) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A Looming Rare Earth Shortage Threatens Critical Tech](https://daily.dev/posts/a-looming-rare-earth-shortage-threatens-critical-tech-ceejn20ot) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why the world doesn’t recycle more nuclear waste](https://daily.dev/posts/why-the-world-doesn-t-recycle-more-nuclear-waste-hctwcimee) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/clean-tech-startup-fluxnium-found-a-way-to-tap-50-000-years-worth-of-nuclear-fuel-twjhqpqjk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Clean tech startup Fluxnium found a way to tap 50,000 years’ worth of nuclear fuel","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/clean-tech-startup-fluxnium-found-a-way-to-tap-50-000-years-worth-of-nuclear-fuel-twjhqpqjk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/clean-tech-startup-fluxnium-found-a-way-to-tap-50-000-years-worth-of-nuclear-fuel-twjhqpqjk"},"datePublished":"2026-09-16T13:03:00.946Z","dateModified":"2026-09-17T00:26:03.010Z","description":"Clean tech startup Fluxnium has developed a way to extract uranium directly from seawater using polymer fibers licensed from Department of Energy national...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/e8e4fc61739a4cd595a9818a53574a2d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/e8e4fc61739a4cd595a9818a53574a2d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/clean-tech-startup-fluxnium-found-a-way-to-tap-50-000-years-worth-of-nuclear-fuel-twjhqpqjk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"startup","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Clean tech startup Fluxnium found a way to tap 50,000 years’ worth of nuclear fuel"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/clean-tech-startup-fluxnium-found-a-way-to-tap-50-000-years-worth-of-nuclear-fuel-twjhqpqjk#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does Fluxnium extract uranium from seawater?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Fluxnium uses specially made polymer fibers, braided and hung off buoys similar to seaweed farming, that attract dissolved uranium from seawater over 30 to 60 days at sea. 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