Lightbridge Corp (LTBR) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Lightbridge Corporation Business Update and Fiscal Year 2020 Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded.

感謝您的支持，歡迎來到 Lightbridge Corporation 業務更新和 2020 財年電話會議。請注意，今天的通話正在錄音中。

It is now my pleasure to introduce Matthew Abenante, Director of Investor Relations for Lightbridge Corporation. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我很高興介紹 Lightbridge Corporation 投資者關係總監 Matthew Abenante。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Sarah, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. The company's earnings press release was distributed after the market closed yesterday and can be viewed on the Investor Relations page of the Lightbridge website at www.ltbridge.com.

謝謝莎拉，感謝大家今天加入我們。公司的收益新聞稿是在昨天收市後發布的，可以在 Lightbridge 網站 www.ltbridge.com 的投資者關係頁面上查看。

Joining us on the call today is Seth Grae, Chief Executive Officer; along with Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer; Sherrie Holloway, Accounting manager; Andrey Mushakov, Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations; and Jim Fornof, Vice President for Nuclear Program Management.

今天與我們一起參加電話會議的是首席執行官 Seth Grae；與首席財務官 Larry Goldman 一起； Sherrie Holloway，會計經理；核運營執行副總裁 Andrey Mushakov；和核計劃管理副總裁 Jim Fornof。

I would like to remind our listeners that any statements on this call that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Today's presentation includes forward-looking statements about the company's competitive position and product and service offerings.

我想提醒我們的聽眾，關於此次電話會議的任何非歷史事實的陳述都是前瞻性陳述。今天的演示文稿包括有關公司競爭地位以及產品和服務的前瞻性陳述。

During today's call, words such as expect, anticipate, believe and intend will be used in our discussion of goals or events in the future. This presentation is based on current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from such estimates. These and other risks are set forth in more detail in Lightbridge's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lightbridge does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new developments or otherwise.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將在討論未來的目標或事件時使用期望、預計、相信和打算等詞。本演示文稿基於當前預期並涉及某些可能導致實際結果與此類估計存在重大差異的風險和不確定性。這些風險和其他風險在 Lightbridge 向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中有更詳細的說明。 Lightbridge 不承擔任何更新或修改任何此類前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新的發展還是其他原因。

And with that, I would like to turn the call over to our first speaker, Seth Grae, Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge. Hello, Seth.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給我們的第一位發言人，Lightbridge 的首席執行官 Seth Grae。你好，賽斯。

And hello, and thank you very much, Matt. Thank all of you for joining us. Despite the challenges of the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm pleased to report that Lightbridge is continuing to make progress on our fuel development initiatives, while taking steps to ensure that we have the necessary resources to dedicate to these efforts.

你好，非常感謝你，馬特。感謝大家加入我們。儘管過去一年因 COVID-19 大流行而面臨挑戰。我很高興地報告，Lightbridge 在我們的燃料開發計劃方面繼續取得進展，同時採取措施確保我們擁有必要的資源來致力於這些努力。

At the same time, based on current industry developments, 2021 could be a breakout year for advanced nuclear technologies. In fact, President Biden's energy platform includes advanced nuclear as part of what he has referred to as critical clean energy technologies. The administration has recognized nuclear power as part of the transition away from fossil fuels.

同時，從目前的行業發展來看，2021年可能是先進核技術的爆發年。事實上，拜登總統的能源平台包括先進的核能，作為他所說的關鍵清潔能源技術的一部分。政府已將核能視為化石燃料轉型的一部分。

Today, Lightbridge achieved a significant milestone as we secured our second funding award from the U.S. Department of Energy, a voucher from DOE's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear, or GAIN program, to support development of Lightbridge fuel in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. The scope of this project is to demonstrate Lightbridge's nuclear fuel testing process using depleted uranium, a key step in the manufacture of our fuel. The total value of the project is approximately $664,000, with 3/4 of this amount funded by DOE.

今天，Lightbridge 實現了一個重要的里程碑，因為我們獲得了美國能源部的第二筆資金獎勵，這是美國能源部加速核能創新門戶或 GAIN 計劃的憑證，用於支持與太平洋西北國家實驗室合作開發 Lightbridge 燃料里奇蘭，華盛頓。該項目的範圍是展示 Lightbridge 使用貧鈾的核燃料測試過程，這是我們燃料製造的關鍵步驟。該項目的總價值約為 664,000 美元，其中 3/4 由美國能源部資助。

The next step will be to sign a CRADA agreement relating to the project. From there, Lightbridge will work with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on the process of casting depleted uranium zirconium ingots that will be submitted to a battery of testing and analysis. We expect the project will begin later in the first half of 2021. This new GAIN Voucher is part of our focus to partner more closely with the U.S. government.

下一步將是簽署與該項目有關的 CRADA 協議。從那裡開始，Lightbridge 將與太平洋西北國家實驗室合作，研究鑄造貧鈾鋯錠的過程，這些錠將提交給一系列測試和分析。我們預計該項目將於 2021 年上半年晚些時候開始。這個新的 GAIN 代金券是我們與美國政府更緊密合作的重點之一。

Earlier this week, we announced our settlement agreement with Framatome that dissolves our Enfission joint venture in its entirety and terminates all agreements associated with the JV. Under the terms of the agreement, Lightbridge has paid Framatome approximately $4.2 million for outstanding invoices for work performed and other expenses that were incurred by Framatome, which destroyed all documents and content related to Lightbridge's intellectual property. The settlement agreement allows Lightbridge to pursue the numerous emerging opportunities in the nuclear sector, such as our new GAIN Voucher, completely unencumbered by any constraints, while securing all our pre-existing intellectual property rights without restrictions.

本週早些時候，我們宣布了與 Framatome 的和解協議，該協議完全解散了我們的 Enfission 合資企業，並終止了與該合資企業相關的所有協議。根據協議條款，Lightbridge 已向 Framatome 支付約 420 萬美元，用於支付 Framatome 所執行工作的未付發票和 Framatome 產生的其他費用，這些費用銷毀了與 Lightbridge 知識產權相關的所有文件和內容。和解協議使 Lightbridge 能夠在核領域尋求眾多新興機會，例如我們新的 GAIN Voucher，完全不受任何限制，同時不受限制地保護我們所有現有的知識產權。

Importantly, we will avoid the significant multimillion-dollar costs of ongoing arbitration proceedings in Switzerland, along with the litigation in Delaware, that [our attorney] is expected to continue for at least another year. By reaching this settlement, we are eliminating any uncertainty of the outcome of international arbitration. I believe, along with our Board of Directors, that this settlement agreement is the best result for all sides.

重要的是，我們將避免瑞士正在進行的仲裁程序以及特拉華州的訴訟所產生的數百萬美元的巨額費用，[我們的律師] 預計將至少再持續一年。通過達成這項和解，我們消除了國際仲裁結果的任何不確定性。我和我們的董事會相信，這份和解協議對各方來說都是最好的結果。

Turning to our ongoing efforts at Idaho National Laboratory, under our first funding voucher from DOE, we are designing an experiment for testing our fuel samples in the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Lab. Our initial understanding was that we would have full access to a government-funded pressurized water reactor test loop in the advanced test reactor to generate sufficient data to support our lead test assembly testing and eliminate the need for lead test rod testing in a large commercial reactor.

談到我們在愛達荷國家實驗室正在進行的工作，根據美國能源部的第一筆資助憑證，我們正在設計一個實驗，用於在愛達荷國家實驗室的高級測試反應堆中測試我們的燃料樣品。我們最初的理解是，我們可以完全訪問先進測試反應堆中政府資助的壓水反應堆測試迴路，以生成足夠的數據來支持我們的先導測試組件測試，並消除在大型商業反應堆中進行先導測試棒測試的需要.

However, while the Advanced Test Reactor has enough space for 4 of these loops, where fuel rods can be irradiated, the reactor currently has only one such loop that is shared with our experiments, which limits how much fuel rod material we can get in the reactor and its duration in the reactor. We understand that Idaho National Lab would be willing to add up to all 3 additional loops at a cost of about $10 million to $15 million each. We have determined such capital investment to be an unmanageable cost for Lightbridge. We plan to work with the government and industry to have these loops added without Lightbridge paying for them. We believe we have strong arguments for the U.S. government to pay most of the cost for these new loops.

然而，雖然高級測試反應堆有足夠的空間容納 4 個這樣的環路，燃料棒可以在其中進行輻照，但反應堆目前只有一個這樣的環路與我們的實驗共享，這限制了我們可以在其中獲得多少燃料棒材料反應器及其在反應器中的持續時間。據我們了解，愛達荷國家實驗室願意以每條約 1000 萬至 1500 萬美元的成本增加所有 3 個額外的環路。我們已確定此類資本投資對 Lightbridge 來說是一項無法控制的成本。我們計劃與政府和行業合作，在 Lightbridge 不支付費用的情況下添加這些循環。我們相信我們有充分的理由支持美國政府為這些新環路支付大部分費用。

The foundation of our fuel development efforts is to position Lightbridge Fuel and our company as essential for the world to meet climate goals. As such, we have viewed the existing large pressurized water reactors as our initial market, because these reactors represent a large market segment for which Lightbridge Fuel could provide significant economic and safety benefits. There are approximately 400 reactors worldwide, that average about 1,000 megawatts of electricity generation each. We calculate that to produce with nuclear power, all the clean energy that the world will need in 2050, which is the seminal year for climate change according to the IPCC, would take the equivalent of about an additional 20,000 reactors, generating about 1,000 megawatts of electricity each.

我們燃料開發工作的基礎是將 Lightbridge Fuel 和我們公司定位為對世界實現氣候目標至關重要的公司。因此，我們將現有的大型壓水反應堆視為我們的初始市場，因為這些反應堆代表了 Lightbridge Fuel 可以提供顯著經濟和安全效益的大型市場部分。全世界大約有 400 個反應堆，每個反應堆的平均發電量約為 1,000 兆瓦。我們計算出，要用核能生產世界在 2050 年所需的所有清潔能源，根據 IPCC 的說法，這是氣候變化的開創性年份，相當於增加約 20,000 個反應堆，產生約 1,000 兆瓦的電力每個電。

Realistically, that is not going to happen. At most, we anticipate a net increase of 200 large reactors will be built by then, with most of them deployed by China and Russia, and more difficult for Lightbridge to reach commercially.

實際上，這不會發生。最多，我們預計屆時將淨增200個大型反應堆，其中大部分由中國和俄羅斯部署，Lightbridge更難以商業化。

While these large reactors present a market opportunity for Lightbridge, one that we will continue to pursue, it's clear that these reactors will not have a meaningful effect on climate change. Instead, we are recognizing the emerging technology in Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs, that are now in development and licensing. They have the potential collectively to generate massive amounts of power, with the versatility to deliver upon climate goals. We believe that Lightbridge Fuel can provide SMRs all the benefits that our technology brings to large reactors, but with a more significant and meaningful economic case for deploying SMRs, including greater power up rates up to 30% increase in power output with Lightbridge Fuel and added economic benefits from the safety enhancements that we would bring. We expect Lightbridge Fuel to generate more power that will help decarbonize certain sectors by powering them with electricity and produce hydrogen for liquid non-carbon fuels, for use in hard-to-decarbonized sectors, such as aviation and shipping.

雖然這些大型反應堆為 Lightbridge 提供了市場機會，我們將繼續追求這一市場機會，但很明顯，這些反應堆不會對氣候變化產生有意義的影響。相反，我們正在認識到小型模塊化反應堆 (SMR) 中的新興技術，這些技術目前正在開發和許可中。它們具有共同產生大量電力的潛力，具有實現氣候目標的多功能性。我們相信，Lightbridge Fuel 可以為 SMR 提供我們的技術為大型反應堆帶來的所有好處，但部署 SMR 具有更重要和更有意義的經濟案例，包括更高的功率提升率，使用 Lightbridge Fuel 可將功率輸出提高多達 30%，並添加我們將帶來的安全改進帶來的經濟利益。我們預計 Lightbridge Fuel 將產生更多電力，通過為某些行業提供電力來幫助它們脫碳，並為液態非碳燃料生產氫氣，以用於航空和航運等難以脫碳的行業。

Our ongoing R&D initiatives are entirely compatible with Lightbridge Fuel powering SMRs for multiple purposes, which are already included in our existing patents and trade secrets. We believe what we are seeing is part of an overall shift in focus in government and the private sector from large pressurized water reactors to SMRs and advanced technologies. This shift in focus is, at least, partly driven by the need to prevent catastrophic climate change. We understand that the Biden administration will prioritize advanced nuclear technologies, including advanced fuels and SMRs as part of its nuclear energy policy.

我們正在進行的研發計劃與為 SMR 提供多種用途的 Lightbridge Fuel 完全兼容，這已經包含在我們現有的專利和商業機密中。我們相信，我們所看到的是政府和私營部門關注重點從大型壓水反應堆轉向 SMR 和先進技術的整體轉變的一部分。這種重心轉移至少在一定程度上是出於防止災難性氣候變化的需要。我們了解到，拜登政府將優先考慮先進核技術，包括先進燃料和 SMR，作為其核能政策的一部分。

President Biden has brought the U.S. back into the Paris agreement on climate change, with the goal that the U.S. electricity sector be carbon-neutral by 2035, just 14 years from now. We believe that powering SMRs with Lightbridge Fuel can enhance the already strong case for SMRs and attract more private and government investment.

拜登總統已將美國帶回巴黎氣候變化協定，其目標是到 2035 年美國電力行業實現碳中和，距現在僅 14 年。我們相信，使用 Lightbridge Fuel 為 SMR 提供動力可以增強 SMR 已經很強大的案例，並吸引更多的私人和政府投資。

Recently, the U.S. and Russia extended the New START Treaty for an additional 5 years. The New START Treaty will prevent an increase in the number of certain types of nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russian arsenals. We understand that the Biden administration will seek to use this opportunity to enter into negotiations with Russia and perhaps China, to reduce the number of weapons and eliminate plutonium from the weapons that would be dismantled, making it harder to replace the weapons in the future. While there would still be careful analysis ahead of us, we believe that a zirconium-plutonium version of Lightbridge Fuel could be an ideal solution in disposing of the plutonium from weapons using it to generate energy.

最近，美國和俄羅斯將《新削減戰略武器條約》再延長 5 年。新 START 條約將防止美國和俄羅斯武庫中某些類型核武器的數量增加。我們了解到，拜登政府將尋求利用這個機會與俄羅斯，或許還有中國進行談判，以減少武器數量，並從將要拆除的武器中消除钚，從而使未來更難更換武器。雖然我們前面仍有仔細的分析，但我們相信，鋯钚版本的 Lightbridge Fuel 可能是處理使用钚產生能量的武器中的钚的理想解決方案。

In addition, the United Kingdom and Japan have large quantities of separated reactor grade plutonium from reprocessing spent fuel from power reactors. Both countries are interested in exploring how best to explore and how to dispose of that plutonium. We believe our technology can be used for this purpose. Our patent portfolio includes zirconium-plutonium fuel. We will explore these opportunities over the coming months for potential government interest and funding support.

此外，英國和日本擁有大量從動力堆乏燃料後處理中分離出的反應堆級钚。兩國都有興趣探索如何最好地探索和處理钚。我們相信我們的技術可以用於此目的。我們的專利組合包括鋯钚燃料。我們將在未來幾個月探索這些機會，以獲得潛在的政府興趣和資金支持。

And with that, I will turn the call over to Andrey Mushakov, Executive VP for Nuclear Operations, who will review our near-term research and development opportunities. Andrey?

有了這個，我將把電話轉給核運營執行副總裁 Andrey Mushakov，他將審查我們近期的研發機會。安德烈？

Thank you, Seth. As Seth mentioned, this afternoon, we were informed by the U.S. Department of Energy GAIN office that Lightbridge was the winner of our second GAIN Voucher. Our second GAIN Voucher is with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, or PNNL. The scope of this vouch is to demonstrate our fuel casting process using depleted uranium in a [50 weight alloy with] zirconium. This is a key step in the fabrication process of our fuel, and it also feeds into our needs for fabrication of irradiation fuel samples in the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory. We expect to begin the contracting phase of the project with PNNL as soon as possible. The time line for this new project is approximately 12 months, and is expected to commence in the first half of this year. The total project value is approximately USD 664,000, with 3/4 of this amount funded by the U.S. Department of Energy for the scope performed by PNNL.

謝謝你，賽斯。正如 Seth 提到的，今天下午，美國能源部 GAIN 辦公室通知我們，Lightbridge 是我們第二個 GAIN Voucher 的贏家。我們的第二張 GAIN Voucher 與太平洋西北國家實驗室 (PNNL) 合作。該保證書的範圍是展示我們在 [50 重量合金與] 鋯中使用貧鈾的燃料鑄造工藝。這是我們燃料製造過程中的一個關鍵步驟，它也滿足了我們在愛達荷國家實驗室的先進測試反應堆中製造輻照燃料樣品的需求。我們希望盡快開始與 PNNL 的項目簽約階段。新項目工期約12個月，預計今年上半年動工。項目總價值約為 664,000 美元，其中 3/4 由美國能源部資助，用於 PNNL 執行的範圍。

Work is also progressing well on our first GAIN Voucher, with the objective to design a radiation test of the Lightbridge uranium-zirconium fuel alloy. As part of the GAIN project, we plan to benefit from new U.S. government support for advanced nuclear technology. Together with Idaho National Laboratory, we are exploring the application of Idaho National Laboratory's Fission Accelerated Steady-state Testing or FAST methodology to this experiment as a means of reducing the time and cost to achieve high burn up in the fuel material.

我們的第一個 GAIN Voucher 的工作也進展順利，目標是設計 Lightbridge 鈾-鋯燃料合金的輻射測試。作為 GAIN 項目的一部分，我們計劃受益於美國政府對先進核技術的新支持。我們與愛達荷國家實驗室一起探索將愛達荷國家實驗室的裂變加速穩態測試或 FAST 方法應用於該實驗，以此作為減少燃料材料實現高燃耗的時間和成本的一種手段。

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal play of working for many American companies, Lightbridge and Idaho National Laboratory have maintained frequent communication to minimize the adverse impact on our project. We anticipate a several month delay in the completion of the experiment design, but we do not expect a delay in the insertion and the radiation testing of the samples.

儘管 COVID-19 大流行擾亂了許多美國公司的正常工作，但 Lightbridge 和愛達荷國家實驗室一直保持著頻繁的溝通，以盡量減少對我們項目的不利影響。我們預計實驗設計的完成會延遲幾個月，但我們預計樣本的插入和輻射測試不會延遲。

We believe demonstrating success on this initial project will position us well to seek further DOE funding opportunities and additional government support, which can further accelerate the development of our advanced fuel technology.

我們相信，在這個初始項目上取得成功將使我們有能力尋求更多的美國能源部資助機會和額外的政府支持，這可以進一步加速我們先進燃料技術的發展。

In parallel with our efforts, under the GAIN Voucher, we expect to produce sample coupons for the in-reactor experiment. Our goal is to have these sample coupons available for insertion in the Advanced Test Reactor as soon as in 2023 and a couple of years from now, after its planned maintenance outage is completed. The second GAIN Voucher award we have just announced will support this objective.

在我們努力的同時，根據 GAIN Voucher，我們希望為反應器內實驗製作樣品優惠券。我們的目標是在 2023 年和幾年後，在計劃的維護停運完成後，盡快將這些樣品券插入先進測試反應堆。我們剛剛宣布的第二個 GAIN Voucher 獎勵將支持這一目標。

The actual experiment insertion data subject to the final duration of the outage, the availability of testing positions in the reactor and the Idaho National Laboratory's prior commitments for testing. Once the acquired field burn up is achieved in the reactor, we plan to perform post-radiation [dissemination] of the coupons, which will provide data on the properties of the fuel material.

實際實驗插入數據以停電的最終持續時間、反應堆中測試位置的可用性以及愛達荷國家實驗室先前的測試承諾為準。一旦在反應堆中實現了獲得的場燃燒，我們計劃對試片進行後輻射 [散佈]，這將提供有關燃料材料特性的數據。

Separately, we plan to demonstrate this year the manufacturing processes for the 3 low variant of our uranium-zirconium fuel technology for using certain Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs, by producing several SMR lengths prototype fuel rods with surrogate materials. We will provide further update on this effort in the coming months as we make progress.

另外，我們計劃今年通過使用替代材料生產多個 SMR 長度的原型燃料棒，來展示我們的鈾-鋯燃料技術的 3 低變體的製造工藝，用於使用某些小型模塊化反應堆 (SMR)。隨著我們取得進展，我們將在未來幾個月提供有關這項工作的進一步更新。

As we look ahead, DOE and U.S. National Labs have demonstrated significant progress in the area of accelerating fuel qualification, including developing methods to perform radiation test more quickly than ever before and in the development and use of advanced modeling and simulation capabilities, which enable faster validation of advanced technologies. We believe both areas can be beneficial to accelerating the demonstration of Lightbridge Fuel technologies and will continue to work toward that end.

展望未來，美國能源部和美國國家實驗室在加速燃料鑑定方面取得了重大進展，包括開發比以往任何時候都更快地進行輻射測試的方法，以及開發和使用先進的建模和仿真功能，從而更快地實現驗證先進技術。我們相信這兩個領域都有助於加速 Lightbridge Fuel 技術的示範，並將繼續努力實現這一目標。

With that, I'll turn it back to you, Seth.

有了這個，我會把它還給你，賽斯。

Thank you very much, Andrey. And with that, we'll turn the call over to Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer, to summarize the company's financial results. Larry?

非常感謝你，安德烈。有了這個，我們將把電話轉給首席財務官拉里戈德曼，以總結公司的財務業績。拉里？

Thank you, Seth, and good afternoon, everyone. For further information regarding our fiscal year 2020 financial results and disclosures, please refer to our earnings release that we filed at the close of market yesterday and our Form 10-K that we will file with the SEC later today.

謝謝你，賽斯，大家下午好。有關我們 2020 財年財務業績和披露的更多信息，請參閱我們昨天收盤時提交的收益報告和我們將於今天晚些時候向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格。

The company maintained a strong working capital position at December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had $21.5 million of cash and cash equivalents compared to $18 million at December 31, 2019. We had working capital of $17.1 million at December 31, 2020, as compared to $18.1 million at December 31, 2019, with no debt financing. Total assets was a $21.8 million and total liabilities were $4.6 million at December 31, 2020.

公司在 2020 年 12 月 31 日保持強勁的營運資金狀況。截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日，我們擁有 2,150 萬美元的現金和現金等價物，而 2019 年 12 月 31 日為 1,800 萬美元。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的營運資金為 1,710 萬美元，2020 年與 2019 年 12 月 31 日的 1810 萬美元相比，沒有債務融資。截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日，總資產為 2180 萬美元，總負債為 460 萬美元。

Total cash use and operating activities increased by approximately $1.9 million for the fiscal year 2020 compared to fiscal year 2019, primarily due to an increase in G&A expenses relating to our arbitration matter, offset by a decrease in our R&D expenses as we no longer conduct our R&D activities in Enfission as we did in 2019 since we transitioned our R&D work to the U.S. National Labs in 2020.

與 2019 財年相比，2020 財年現金使用和經營活動總額增加了約 190 萬美元，這主要是由於與我們的仲裁事項相關的 G&A 費用增加，但被我們不再進行我們的研發費用減少所抵消自 2020 年我們將研發工作轉移到美國國家實驗室以來，Enfission 的研發活動與我們在 2019 年所做的一樣。

Cash used in investing activities decreased by approximately $3.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to 2019, due to us terminating our equity contributions into the Enfission joint venture in 2019. Cash provided by financing activities increased by approximately $8.6 to $12.4 million for fiscal 2020 compared to $3.8 million for fiscal 2019. The increase was primarily due to an increase in the net proceeds from the issuance of our common stock, which resulted from the sale of approximately 3.3 million shares of common stock for net proceeds of $12.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

與 2019 年相比，截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日止年度，投資活動使用的現金減少約 360 萬美元，原因是我們在 2019 年終止了對 Enfission 合資企業的股權出資。融資活動提供的現金增加約 8.6 美元至 1240 萬美元2020 財年為 380 萬美元，而 2019 財年為 380 萬美元。增加的主要原因是我們發行普通股的淨收益增加，這是由於出售約 330 萬股普通股，淨收益為 1230 萬美元截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日止年度。

Before I hand the call over to Sherrie Holloway, our Accounting Manager, I'd like to add that as a result of certain triggering events regarding our intangible asset, patent costs, that we recorded an impairment loss provision on the total carrying value of our patent costs.

在我將電話轉給我們的會計經理 Sherrie Holloway 之前，我想補充一點，由於某些與我們的無形資產、專利成本有關的觸發事件，我們記錄了我們的總賬面價值的減值損失準備金專利費用。

Total impairment loss and patent write-off was $1.2 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020. There was no patent impairment loss provision in 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we took the necessary steps in fiscal year 2020 to reduce our corporate overhead expense, and we anticipate preserving our cash runway into calendar year 2022.

2020 年第四季度記錄的減值損失和專利註銷總額為 120 萬美元。2019 年沒有專利減值損失準備金。由於 COVID-19 大流行，我們在 2020 財年採取了必要措施來減少我們的公司管理費用，我們預計將我們的現金跑道保留到 2022 日曆年。

As noted, we received the GAIN Voucher from the DOE today, and we will continue to strive to obtain additional DOE funding in the future, with the primary goal of furthering our fuel development in the most cost-efficient manner for our shareholders to support our future financing requirements with respect to our nuclear fuel development.

如前所述，我們今天收到了能源部的 GAIN 憑證，我們將在未來繼續努力獲得額外的能源部資金，其主要目標是以最具成本效益的方式推進我們的燃料開發，讓我們的股東支持我們的我們核燃料開發的未來融資需求。

I will now turn the call over to Sherrie Holloway, our Accounting Manager, who will go over our P&L financial information for fiscal 2020.

我現在將電話轉給我們的會計經理 Sherrie Holloway，她將審查我們 2020 財年的損益財務信息。

Thank you, Larry. Net loss for the fiscal year 2020 was $14.4 million compared to $10.7 million for fiscal year 2019, primarily due to these factors. Total R&D expenses were $0.9 million in fiscal year 2020 compared to $2.7 million in fiscal year 2019. This decrease was primarily due to transitioning our R&D work from our joint venture to developing our new fuel development strategy by now working with the U.S. National Labs. R&D expenses consist primarily of employee compensation and related fringe benefits and other allocable costs related to the research and development of our fuel.

謝謝你，拉里。 2020 財年的淨虧損為 1440 萬美元，而 2019 財年為 1070 萬美元，主要原因是這些因素。 2020 財年的總研發費用為 90 萬美元，而 2019 財年為 270 萬美元。這一減少主要是由於我們將研發工作從合資企業轉變為通過現在與美國國家實驗室合作制定新的燃料開發戰略。研發費用主要包括員工薪酬和相關的附加福利以及與我們的燃料研發相關的其他可分配成本。

G&A expenses for the year ended December 31, 2020, were $8.3 million compared to $5.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily due to an increase in professional fees of approximately $1.7 million due to the legal fees incurred related to the arbitration and a net increase in employee compensation and employee benefits of approximately $1.2 million. These increases were offset by a decrease in travel, promotional and various administrative expenses of approximately $0.4 million, partially due to COVID-19.

截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日止年度的 G&A 費用為 830 萬美元，而截至 2019 年 12 月 31 日止年度為 580 萬美元，這主要是由於與仲裁相關的法律費用導致專業費用增加約 170 萬美元，以及員工薪酬和員工福利淨增加約 120 萬美元。這些增加被差旅、促銷和各種管理費用減少約 40 萬美元所抵消，部分原因是 COVID-19。

On February 11, 2021, the company entered into a settlement agreement with our former JV partner, Enfission, and agreed to pay approximately $4.2 million in legal settlement costs. These amounts were recorded in operating expenses as legal settlement costs for the year ended December 31, 2020. There was a net other operating gain of $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to a $2.6 million net operating loss for the year ended December 31, 2019.

2021 年 2 月 11 日，公司與我們的前合資夥伴 Enfission 簽訂了和解協議，同意支付約 420 萬美元的法律和解費用。這些金額作為截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日止年度的合法結算費用記錄在運營費用中。截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日止年度，其他運營淨收益為 10 萬美元，而當年的淨運營虧損為 260 萬美元截至 2019 年 12 月 31 日。

This $2.7 million change was due to a net decrease in the equity loss from the Enfission joint venture of $2.6 million and an increase in grant income from the GAIN Voucher of approximately $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

這一 270 萬美元的變化是由於 Enfission 合資企業的股權損失淨減少 260 萬美元，以及截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日止年度來自 GAIN Voucher 的贈款收入增加約 10 萬美元。

Now over to you, Seth.

現在輪到你了，賽斯。

Well, thank you very much, Sherrie. And with that, we'll go on to the question-and-answer session. Thank you to everyone who has submitted questions, and I'll turn it over to Matt Abenante, our Director of Investor Relations. Matt?

好吧，非常感謝你，雪莉。然後，我們將繼續進行問答環節。感謝所有提交問題的人，我將把它交給我們的投資者關係總監 Matt Abenante。馬特？

Our first question, what brought about the shift in focus from the existing fleet of reactors to small module reactors, which are still on the drawing board? And then as a follow-up, why would testing Lightbridge Fuel without any operational history? And a totally new breed of light water reactor or small module reactor be an easier regulation gauntlet than testing in the history-rich existing fleet of reactors?

我們的第一個問題是，是什麼導致焦點從現有的反應堆轉移到仍在設計中的小型模塊反應堆？然後作為後續行動，為什麼要在沒有任何運行歷史的情況下測試 Lightbridge Fuel？與在歷史悠久的現有反應堆艦隊中進行測試相比，全新品種的輕水反應堆或小型模塊反應堆是否更容易監管？

Okay. Well, first, let me assure you that we're not abandoning the existing light water reactors in our strategy. They continue to be an important target market for us, but we see opportunities relating to government and the private sector shifting resources to the Small Modular Reactors, SMRs.

好的。好吧，首先，讓我向你保證，我們不會在我們的戰略中放棄現有的輕水反應堆。它們仍然是我們的重要目標市場，但我們看到了與政府和私營部門將資源轉移到小型模塊化反應堆 (SMR) 相關的機會。

The work we are doing now is applicable for fuel for large reactors and for the shorter length versions of fuels for SMRs. While regulatory issues continue to be a significant gauntlet, as mentioned in the question in our long-term planning, there are other important hurdles that we need to overcome before focusing on regulatory licensing. We believe we can benefit from DOE's focus on SMRs and other advanced reactor designs, in order to accelerate our shorter-term development requirements, including in-reactor testing and fabrication processes. Also, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is engaged with advanced reactor developers to streamline and modernize the regulatory requirements for these designs. It's under what's called Part 53 of the NRC's regulations.

我們現在所做的工作適用於大型反應堆的燃料和 SMR 的較短長度版本的燃料。正如我們長期規劃中的問題所述，儘管監管問題仍然是一個重大挑戰，但在專注於監管許可之前，我們還需要克服其他重要障礙。我們相信，我們可以從 DOE 對 SMR 和其他先進反應堆設計的關注中受益，以加快我們的短期開發需求，包括反應堆內測試和製造過程。此外，核管理委員會與先進反應堆開發商合作，以簡化和現代化這些設計的監管要求。它符合 NRC 規定的第 53 部分。

These include the exploration of the accelerated fuels qualification initiative. That's something you'll hear about again from Lightbridge many times, I'm sure. The accelerated fuels qualification initiative which -- it leverages computational techniques in conjunction with more traditional in-reactor qualification programs. We believe the accelerated fuels qualification initiative will be applicable to licensing our fuel.

其中包括探索加速燃料鑑定計劃。我敢肯定，您會多次從 Lightbridge 那裡聽到這一點。加速燃料鑑定計劃——它利用計算技術與更傳統的反應堆內鑑定程序相結合。我們相信加速燃料資格認證計劃將適用於我們的燃料許可。

We believe that focusing early on advanced reactor developments, specifically the light water reactors, small modular reactors, with that, we can make faster progress toward ultimately addressing both SMR designs as well as existing large light water reactors.

我們相信，儘早關注先進反應堆的開發，特別是輕水反應堆、小型模塊化反應堆，我們可以在最終解決 SMR 設計和現有大型輕水反應堆方面取得更快的進展。

Back to you, Matt.

回到你身邊，馬特。

Our next question, with Lightbridge now adding a focus on Small Modular Reactors and with the joint venture settlement complete, will Lightbridge now seek partnerships with other companies?

我們的下一個問題是，隨著 Lightbridge 現在增加了對小型模塊化反應堆的關注，並且隨著合資企業的結算完成，Lightbridge 現在會尋求與其他公司的合作夥伴關係嗎？

Well, we're focusing on performing well under our work with the U.S. government and its national laboratories and on expanding our cooperation with the government. Lightbridge continues to be open to collaboration with potential partners in the advanced reactor and SMR areas as well as the more traditional light water reactor fuel vendors. We're beginning to reach out to certain firms regarding our promising new fuel technologies.

好吧，我們專注於在與美國政府及其國家實驗室的合作下表現出色，並致力於擴大與政府的合作。 Lightbridge 繼續對與先進反應堆和 SMR 領域的潛在合作夥伴以及更傳統的輕水反應堆燃料供應商的合作持開放態度。我們開始就我們有前途的新燃料技術與某些公司接觸。

Back to you, Matt. Matt, you might be on mute.

回到你身邊，馬特。馬特，你可能靜音了。

Sorry about that. The next question is regarding the second GAIN Voucher award. Can you provide any color on time lines? And how this award differs from your current work at Idaho National Lab?

對於那個很抱歉。下一個問題是關於第二個 GAIN Voucher 獎勵。你能在時間線上提供任何顏色嗎？這個獎項與您目前在愛達荷國家實驗室的工作有何不同？

Yes. Yes, happy to do that, but we'll turn it over to Jim Fornof, who's really been running this issue for Lightbridge. And congratulations, Jim, to the whole team today. And over to you.

是的。是的，很高興這樣做，但我們會把它交給 Jim Fornof，他一直在為 Lightbridge 處理這個問題。吉姆，祝賀今天的整個團隊。交給你了。

Well, thank you, Seth, and it really was a team effort to get this award. So thanks to everybody that pitched in.

好吧，謝謝你，賽斯，獲得這個獎項真的是團隊的努力。所以感謝所有投入的人。

As Andrey mentioned, our second GAIN Voucher is with PNNL, or the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. PNNL is uniquely qualified, and that they have capabilities for high-temperature vacuum, melting and casting of our fuel alloy, which is 50-50 weight alloy of zirconium and uranium.

正如安德烈提到的，我們的第二個 GAIN Voucher 是與 PNNL 或太平洋西北國家實驗室合作的。 PNNL 是唯一合格的，他們有能力對我們的燃料合金進行高溫真空、熔煉和鑄造，這是 50-50 重量的鋯和鈾合金。

In this experiment or this demonstration we'll be using a depleted uranium source to minimize on the radiological cost of the experiment. So it's a demonstration using the depleted uranium of the casting process.

在這個實驗或這個演示中，我們將使用貧鈾源來最大限度地減少實驗的放射成本。所以這是一個使用貧鈾鑄造過程的演示。

We expect this to start as soon as we can finish the contracting phase, and we will jump on that just as soon as possible with the lab. And we expect that this will be about a 12-month project starting sometime in the first half of this year.

我們希望在我們完成合同階段後儘快開始，我們將盡快與實驗室合作。我們預計這將是一個大約 12 個月的項目，將於今年上半年開始。

With -- in regard to how this compares to our initial GAIN Voucher with INL, the Idaho National Lab, that initial project was for the design of an experiment to irradiate our fuel material in a coupon sample, and progressing well on that. We're just about to complete the conceptual design and move into the detailed design phase, and it's expected to wrap up sometime around the end of the third quarter of this year.

關於這與我們最初與愛達荷國家實驗室 INL 的 GAIN Voucher 相比如何，最初的項目是設計一個實驗來輻照我們的燃料材料在一個優惠券樣本中，並且在這方面進展順利。我們即將完成概念設計並進入詳細設計階段，預計將在今年第三季度末左右完成。

And how these 2 projects relay to each other is that they dovetail with the fabrication of the fuel coupon samples themselves. So we will use this similar casting and extrusion process that we're demonstrating with PNNL as we make coupon samples for radiation in the advanced test reactor at INL.

這兩個項目如何相互傳遞是因為它們與燃料試片樣品本身的製造相吻合。因此，當我們在 INL 的先進測試反應堆中製作用於輻射的試片樣品時，我們將使用與 PNNL 一起演示的類似鑄造和擠壓工藝。

I'll turn it back over to you, Matt, for additional questions.

Matt，我會把它轉回給你，以解決其他問題。

We've had actually a number of questions related to nuclear fuel recycling, especially related to the use of recycled plutonium. Can you elaborate on this?

實際上，我們有很多與核燃料回收相關的問題，尤其是與回收钚的使用相關的問題。你能詳細說明一下嗎？

Yes. Yes. And as I mentioned, that is an area that we are starting to focus on and reach out to government on. And for the answer, I'll turn that over to you, Andrey.

是的。是的。正如我提到的，這是我們開始關注並與政府接觸的領域。至於答案，我會交給你，安德烈。

Thank you, Seth. We believe that Lightbridge Fuel can be recycled using existing reprocessing technologies as well as new advanced technologies that have been developed currently by the U.S. National Laboratories, including a technology called pyroprocessing.

謝謝你，賽斯。我們相信 Lightbridge 燃料可以使用現有的後處理技術以及美國國家實驗室目前開發的新的先進技術進行回收，包括一種稱為高溫處理的技術。

However, today, in the United States, reprocessing has not been performed. U.S. nuclear power plants instead are relying on dry cask storage on site. So once the fuel is removed from the reactor, they put it in a dry cask storage facility where the reactors are located and stored there for many, many years, once they get it out of spent fuel pools out of that storage.

然而，今天，在美國，還沒有進行再處理。相反，美國核電站依賴於現場乾式桶儲存。因此，一旦燃料從反應堆中取出，他們就會將其放入反應堆所在的干燥桶儲存設施中，並在那裡儲存許多年，一旦他們將其從乏燃料池中取出。

Ultimately, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. laws is responsible for taking those spent fuel assemblies from dry cask storage facilities, from each of U.S. nuclear power plants and basically storing it or disposing of that spent fuel in a permanent fashion. But so far, as you know, Yucca Mountain was the selected facility for permanent storage that ran into some funding issues. And right now, it's been put on hold.

最終，美國能源部和美國法律負責從美國每個核電站的干桶儲存設施中取出這些乏燃料組件，並以永久方式基本上儲存或處置這些乏燃料。但到目前為止，正如你所知，絲蘭山是被選中的永久儲存設施，但遇到了一些資金問題。而現在，它被擱置了。

Lightbridge has -- Lightbridge Fuel has the potential to dispose of recycle plutonium as well as plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons or weapon stockpiles, eliminating such plutonium material while producing energy. In addition to recovering a vast amount of unused energy that is embedded in that plutonium material, this would offer the additional benefit of reducing the weapons pool operation concerns, inherent with such plutonium material.

Lightbridge 有——Lightbridge Fuel 有潛力處理回收钚以及來自拆除的核武器或武器庫存的钚，從而在產生能量的同時消除此類钚材料。除了回收蘊含在钚材料中的大量未使用能量之外，這還將提供額外的好處，即減少此類钚材料固有的武器池操作問題。

We believe that the high burn up nature of our fuel makes it a good candidate for incorporating plutonium as well as minimizing pool operation concerns.

我們相信，我們燃料的高燃耗特性使其成為摻入钚以及最大程度減少池運行問題的理想選擇。

So with that, I'll turn it back to you, Matt, for any additional questions.

因此，對於任何其他問題，馬特，我會把它轉回給你。

Thank you, Andrey. Our last question, can you comment on the proposed change in the European Union taxonomy? And how it might affect Lightbridge and nuclear, in general?

謝謝你，安德烈。我們的最後一個問題，您能否對歐盟分類法的擬議變更發表評論？總體而言，它如何影響 Lightbridge 和核能？

The fact that someone's asking that question shows that what's happening in Europe is affecting investors in America and other places, or a European investor who might be calling into or following an American call.

有人問這個問題的事實表明，歐洲正在發生的事情正在影響美國和其他地方的投資者，或者可能正在打電話或接聽美國電話的歐洲投資者。

The purpose of the proposed European taxonomy is to steer investment into low carbon projects. I think it's essential that the European taxonomy treat nuclear as the sustainable carbon-free energy source that it is. Anything less would make it even more difficult to achieve climate goals.

擬議的歐洲分類法的目的是引導對低碳項目的投資。我認為歐洲分類學將核能視為可持續的無碳能源至關重要。任何不足都會使實現氣候目標變得更加困難。

Other regions and countries sometimes model their approaches on what the European Union does. Europe failing to treat nuclear, as being sustainable, would end up hurting nuclear inside and outside Europe, some investors looking for sustainable investments would turn away from nuclear, if a taxonomy does not treat it as being sustainable. At the Nuclear Energy Institute and elsewhere, Lightbridge is joining efforts to help position nuclear as being essential for countries to achieve climate goals and reach out to people who can have influence on these issues in Europe.

其他地區和國家有時會效仿歐盟的做法。歐洲未能將核能視為可持續發展，最終將損害歐洲內外的核能，如果分類法不將核能視為可持續發展，一些尋求可持續投資的投資者將放棄核能。在核能研究所和其他地方，Lightbridge 正在共同努力，幫助將核能定位為各國實現氣候目標和接觸能夠對歐洲這些問題產生影響的人們所必不可少的。

Fortunately, in the last few days, according to news reports, 7 EU member states, including Poland and France, have signed a letter to the European Commission, stating that nuclear should be on a level footing with other low carbon technologies.

幸運的是，最近幾天，據新聞報導，包括波蘭和法國在內的7個歐盟成員國聯名致函歐盟委員會，表示核能應與其他低碳技術平起平坐。

I believe Germany is leading the effort against nuclear. Fortunately, I think it's looking more likely that Germany's position won't prevail.

我相信德國正在領導反對核的努力。幸運的是，我認為德國的立場更有可能不會佔上風。

And if that's the last question, Matt, I will say, thank you to everybody who's participated on today's call. Thank you also for the Lightbridge team listening in, a good day, showing the results of your work on the GAIN Voucher. We look forward to providing additional updates in the near future. In the meantime, we can be reached at ir@ltbridge.com, stay safe and well. Goodbye.

如果這是最後一個問題，馬特，我要說，感謝所有參加今天電話會議的人。也感謝 Lightbridge 團隊的傾聽，美好的一天，展示你們在 GAIN Voucher 上的工作成果。我們期待在不久的將來提供更多更新。同時，您可以通過 ir@ltbridge.com 與我們聯繫，注意安全。再見。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。