Raven-Flint Nuclear Corporation has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad program, administered by the National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory. The selection clears the path for construction of Torch, which aims to become the second American facility for converting uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) — the chemical compound essential to enrichment processes for commercial reactors.
The only conversion facility currently operating in the United States dates back to 1958 and, according to Raven-Flint’s own figures, covers less than half of current U.S. utility demand. Torch is designed to convert 500 metric tons of uranium per year into UF₆, enough to fuel two large reactors. The facility will also serve the DOE and affiliated agencies, with the potential to produce domestic UF₆ not restricted to defense applications. CEO Nick Smith has stated that first deliveries are expected by 2028.
The most distinctive feature of Raven-Flint’s approach is its proprietary process, known as the Corvus Route, which eliminates elemental fluorine entirely from the production chain. Every conversion facility in the Western world relies on hydrogen fluoride and elemental fluorine (F₂) chemistry — a combination that drives up costs, introduces complex safety requirements, and complicates the licensing process. Raven-Flint estimates that its technology enables roughly a 45% reduction in construction costs, a 20% decrease in annual operating costs, and a 27% cut in the facility’s electricity consumption, achieved by eliminating fluoride electrolysis.
Alongside the Launch Pad selection, the company announced two additional concrete milestones. It has successfully produced UF₆ using its own process, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has formally accepted its license application for engineering-scale operations at its radiochemistry laboratory in Idaho Falls. That acceptance — known as “docketing” — represents official NRC recognition that the application is ready for full technical review, setting in motion a regulatory process the company says it has been preparing for since day one.
This development comes at a time when the U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain is being urgently restructured. Domestic uranium production in the United States more than tripled in 2025, reaching its highest level since 2017 — but without adequate conversion capacity, that raw material cannot be turned into reactor fuel. Rebuilding this stage of the supply chain domestically has become a strategic priority, codified in the Nuclear Fuel Security Act of 2023. If Torch comes online on schedule, the United States will have, for the first time in decades, a second facility capable of converting yellowcake into UF₆, using a technology that is both cheaper and potentially replicable on a global scale.
