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The call demonstrated clear technical and regulatory progress — notably DOE OTA awards, ongoing materials qualification, supplier engagement and an NRC Safety Evaluation Report approving the PIE methodology — and advanced commercial outreach via a Riot MOU and a 7.8 GW indicative pipeline. Financially, the company maintains a clean balance sheet with $289.9 million in cash and no debt, but sequential increases in cash burn and operating expenses and continued uncertainty around pilot-to-commercial fuel fabrication (TEFLA) and full licensing remain key near-term execution risks. On balance, the positive regulatory and commercial milestones materially outweigh the near-term cost and timing headwinds.
The company reiterated forward-looking guidance to execute milestone-by-milestone through 2026 and beyond, expecting cash burn to increase throughout 2026 as it scales organization, material testing and supplier selection (Q1 cash burn was $7.9M, up $1.8M sequentially driven by a $600K discretionary bonus payment, $1.0M paydown of accounts payable and ~$200K higher R&D spend); quarter-end cash and cash investments were $289.9M (vs. $297.8M at year-end 2025) with no debt and modest liabilities/lease obligations, and share count rose by ~100,000 from option exercises. Operational/regulatory guidance includes continued execution of Project TETRA (test reactor) and Project TEFLA (fuel line) under an OTA with DOE, ongoing graphite irradiation at NRG Petten, and leveraging NRC approvals (PIE Topical Report Safety Evaluation Report following the 2025 SER) to shorten future licensing reviews. Commercial guidance: a pipeline of ~10 IMSR Plant projects representing ~7.8 GW of indicative capacity, a reiterated target to announce 1–3 additional projects this year (the Riot MOU adds a hyperscale data‑center channel), and a fleet-scale deployment objective into the 2030s while retaining standard-assay LEU (<5% U‑235) fuel strategy (vs. HALEU 15–20%) and emphasizing IMSR’s 1/6 conventional-plant footprint and ~50% higher turbine efficiency as competitive advantages.
Company completed final submissions for the Postulated Initiating Events (PIE) Topical Report and the NRC issued a Safety Evaluation Report approving the methodology. This approval, combined with the NRC's 2025 Safety Evaluation Report for principal design criteria, establishes foundational elements of the IMSR plant licensing basis and should reduce scope and predictability risk for subsequent licensing.
Terrestrial executed an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to advance Project TETRA (test reactor assembly) and Project TEFLA (fuel line assembly), supporting engineering, regulatory programs and fuel supply infrastructure development.
Graphite irradiation testing and supply activities are ongoing at NRG Petten, supporting materials qualification and licensing readiness. Project TEFLA has been positioned as the pilot to industrialize the final IMSR fuel salt form (fluoride chemistry) and capture IP around fuel fabrication processes.
Executed an MOU with Riot Platforms to co-locate IMSR Plants with Riot-developed data centers for AI and HPC workloads, covering multiple U.S. project opportunities and using natural gas as a bridge fuel. This establishes a hyperscale data center commercial channel for IMSR Plants.
Pipeline consists of approximately 10 IMSR Plant projects representing ~7.8 gigawatts of indicative power capacity, reinforcing demand-side interest in the IMSR design and potential fleet economics.
Quarter-end cash and cash investments of $289.9 million, limited liabilities, modest lease obligations and no debt. Management described the balance sheet as straightforward and well positioned to execute near-term milestones.
Built a supplier group to execute Projects TETRA and TEFLA and reported active engagement with industry nuclear suppliers to support fabrication of reactor components and fuel supply infrastructure.
Management reiterated prior guidance to disclose 1–3 additional projects this year and highlighted the recent Riot announcement as part of that pipeline development.
Greetings. Welcome to Terrestrial Energy First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Tyler Gronbach, Vice President, Investor Relations and Public Relations. Thank you. You may begin.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Terrestrial Energy's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. I'm Tyler Gronbach, Vice President of Investor Relations and Public Relations. Joining me today are Simon Irish, Chief Executive Officer; and Brian Thrasher, Chief Financial Officer. Simon will begin with a review of our strategic and operational progress during the quarter, and Brian will follow with a discussion of our financial results. We will then open the call for questions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that we have posted the quarterly results press release and summary slides to the Investor Relations section of our website at terrestrialenergy.com. I'd also like to remind you that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements about our business, operations and financial outlook.
These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. We encourage you to review the risk factors described in our SEC filings for a more complete discussion of these risks. With that, I'll turn the call over to Simon.
Thank you, Tyler, and good morning, everyone. When we last spoke in March, we outlined a 3-pillar framework for assessing our progress and our c...