Carbonium Core has launched pilot-scale testing of a process to convert low-grade American coal into ultra-pure, nuclear-grade graphite. The goal is to supply fourth-generation reactors — including small modular reactors (SMRs) — with a material that today is sourced almost entirely from overseas. Testing is underway at a facility in Oneida, Tennessee, marking the transition from laboratory research to pre-commercial scale.
The purification technology was developed in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the U.S. Department of Energy research center that has long pursued the conversion of coal into high-value products. Carbonium holds an exclusive license to the process and is targeting graphite purity of 99.9% — a threshold that meets the technical requirements for direct use in advanced reactor systems and one that only a handful of producers worldwide can currently achieve.
Geopolitics weighs on this story as heavily as chemistry does. Nuclear-grade graphite is a strategic material, and the global supply chain is currently dominated by Chinese producers. Reducing that dependency has become an explicit priority of U.S. industrial policy. Carbonium is positioning itself to fill exactly that gap: an entirely domestic supply chain, from coal seam to reactor core, with no foreign intermediaries. Its alignment with DOE priorities is no coincidence — the company is in advanced discussions with department officials about a potential formal collaboration.
On the corporate side, on June 29, 2026, TOMI Environmental Solutions (Nasdaq: TOMZ) and Carbonium Core signed a definitive merger agreement. Carbonium will become a wholly owned subsidiary of TOMI. The combined entity pairs TOMI’s SteraMist decontamination technology with Carbonium’s graphite platform, creating a company with exposure to two strategic material supply chains: biosecurity and nuclear energy. The merger is subject to shareholder approval and customary closing conditions.
Carbonium’s industrial ambitions are spelled out in concrete terms. The roadmap calls for a commercial facility capable of producing approximately 50,000 metric tons per year of nuclear graphite — a volume management estimates could generate a long-term revenue opportunity approaching $1.5 billion. These are projections subject to multiple variables — financing, regulatory approvals, and the deployment timeline for advanced reactors — but they illustrate the potential scale of the market if the technology delivers. The global synthetic graphite market is already valued at between $13 billion and $15 billion.
If the Oneida pilot phase delivers the expected results, Carbonium could become the first U.S. producer of domestic nuclear-grade graphite at commercial scale. For fourth-generation reactors, which rely on this material for neutron moderation and high-temperature resistance, having a secure supply source insulated from geopolitical risk is not a technical footnote — it is an enabling condition. And the window to secure that position, before other players organize, is narrowing.
