Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Research and Development Costs

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Research and Development Costs
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Research and Development Costs [Text Block]

Note 11. Research and Development Costs

Research and Development Costs

Research and development costs, included in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations amounted to approximately $1.5 million and $2.0 million for each of the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively. We intend to close our Moscow office in 2015 and focus our research and development in Canada.

On October 20, 2014, we announced the signing of an initial cooperation agreement with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (“CNL”), formerly known as Atomic Energy of Canada Limited-Chalk River Laboratories, for fabrication and test reactor irradiation of Lightbridge's patented next generation metallic nuclear fuel samples. The work will take place at CNL's facilities at Chalk River, Ontario, Canada. The joint work will proceed in three phases that will address:

  • Quality management planning to ensure compliance with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements for fabrication and loop irradiation testing of fuel samples (Phase I);

  • Development of a fabrication plan and a preliminary experiment design for loop irradiation testing (Phase II); and

  • Fabrication and irradiation of Lightbridge-designed metallic fuel samples (Phase III).

The Initial Cooperation Agreement enables the Phase I work. Over the next several months, we intend to complete negotiations relating to two other enabling agreements:

  • Nuclear Engineering Services Agreement that will address Phase II; and

  • Umbrella Services Agreement that will provide a comprehensive legal framework for multi-year cooperation between the parties to enable the final phase of work to proceed.

The Initial Cooperation Agreement is non-exclusive and does not prevent either party from working with other fuel fabrication or fuel development partners.

We have consulting agreements with several consultants working on various projects for us, which total approximately $10,000 per month.