News & Insights

Seth Grae, the CEO of Lightbridge (LTBR), a nuclear fuel technology company, joined Schwab Network ahead of its 1Q25 earnings on May 12. Based in Virginia, it is developing “Lightbridge Fuel”, a next-gen nuclear fuel that operates “about 1000 °C cooler than standard fuel,” per its website.

The World Nuclear Association explains that nuclear reactors work by “using the heat energy released from splitting atoms” to generate electricity. Usually, this is by producing steam, driving turbines creating electricity. The modern reactors were developed in the 1950s, but new designs are being put forward, including by Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE), which I covered previously in this column.

The first main type of reactor is a pressurized water reactor (WNA calls this the most common type). They use water as a coolant and a moderator – it’s important to keep the reactors from overheating to prevent accidents like the Chernobyl disaster. That would make Lightbridge’s fuel valuable by conserving energy and water to cool the reactor, as well as creating a lower likelihood of overheating.

Other modern nuclear reactors use pumped air to cool the reactor, such as the advanced gas-cooled reactor. In both cases, the fuel used is made of uranium, either in pellet or rod form. Lightbridge claims a “helical, multi-lobe fuel rod” (think the shape of a fidget spinner, essentially) that creates more surface area than a traditional fuel rod (cylindrical). This creates greater surface area for the rod, which in turn allows it to generate more energy and helps cool it faster.

Another safety innovation Lightbridge touts, citing the April 2018 issue of Nuclear Engineering and Design, is that the waste created by their fuel is “useless” for nuclear weapons, containing less plutonium than competitors. They’ve designed their product to be compatible with existing plants as well. In January, it announced a partnership with Oklo (OKLO) to explore a nuclear plant partnership and waste recycling technology.

In their April 2025 investor presentation, Lightbridge shows that this technology has been on a long road: it announced its initial metallic fuel concept in 2010, and in 2024-2025 it has finally been testing the fuel samples. Over the next 2-3 years, it writes that it expects to continue testing and developing the fuel and work with regulatory bodies for license applications. With zero debt on the balance sheet and $40 million in cash/cash equivalents, it projects 2 years to a cash runway.

On the Schwab Network, Grae emphasizes that the demand for “constant, reliable power” is booming worldwide, far outstripping supply. He says this rules out renewables, which cycle “on and off” and require expensive battery backup (with materials from China, he adds). But, he argues, this makes nuclear “perfect,” particularly for clean energy. “If we don’t start getting a lot more power on the electric grid,” he warns, we could be in for blackouts like the recent one in Europe.

Nuclear power is already being used around the world – Grae argues that French nuclear energy saved Europe from power losses in the winter after cutting out Russian oil supply. “We can do this,” he says, “we can build hundreds” of reactors on top of the 94 already extant in the U.S. Like many other countries, two years ago at the U.N. Climate Council the U.S. committed to tripling nuclear power globally by 2050.

He points to continued support for this initiative from the Trump administration, as well as bipartisan support in Congress – and says nuclear already makes up 19% of U.S. energy supply. However, he thinks it needs to make up over 50% of supply, and quickly.

Nuclear power obviously has a lot of safety concerns from the general public, from the safety of reactors themselves to processing the spent fuel rods and wastewater. Grae says that the waste is miniscule, and more of a “policy issue than a technology issue.” As we can see from Lightbridge’s long testing timeline, these reactors also take a long time to come online. However, with oil prices dropping, government interest in the tech, and extreme electricity demand, nuclear could be a strong choice in the energy sector.

Volatility has cooled, but it remains a headline driven market and none knows that more so than Schwab Asset Management CIO Omar Aguilar, who studies behavioral finance. He pointed out that humans tend to put more emphasis on news of the day, the week, or even the month and react to that – hence the recent whipsaws we have seen on Wall Street. Another recent trend he noted is home bias, which can come into play during times of volatility, meaning turning to sectors and brands you know the most or bring the most comfort. 

Chief Global Investment Strategist Jeffrey Kleintop examined the global fallout from U.S. tariffs, noting that while major institutions like the IMF and World Bank have revised global GDP growth down, investors should look beyond theoretical models. He explained how companies are already circumventing tariffs through strategies like transshipping, meaning shipping to a country with fewer tariffs where that company may have operations.

Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders and Chief Fixed Income Strategist Kathy Jones addressed the rising risk of recession, the Fed’s cautious stance, and investor sentiment. Sonders noted a surge in earnings estimate downgrades, which has come down from expectations of 15% growth this year to about half of that. Sonders also point out sentiment disconnects between what investors say in surveys and what they actually do. Jones added that the Fed remains in wait-and-see mode due to tariff uncertainty. Despite recent dollar and bond market turbulence, both experts pointed to pockets of opportunity, Jones pointing to munis as an opportunity for investors in a higher tax bracket living in high tax states.

Finally, Managing Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Mike Townsend gave a Washington perspective, noting an unprecedented volume of executive orders and the economic ripple effects of sweeping tariff policies. He highlighted the disconnect between aggressive White House action and lagging Congressional output, with lawmakers facing mounting pressure from constituents. Townsend underscored that the 10% baseline tariffs already in effect represent the most significant shift in U.S. trade policy in a century, and markets are just beginning to price that in.