Lightbridge Corporation , a U.S.-based nuclear technology company, has received a Notice of Allowance from the European Patent Office for a patent covering its “Multi-Zone Fuel Element” nuclear fuel design. The patent extends intellectual property protection for the company’s advanced fuel technology across 39 European contracting states, including major nuclear energy markets such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The allowed patent application covers a nuclear fuel architecture featuring three distinct radial zones composed of different materials, with zone thickness varying along the axial direction. According to the company, the configuration enables more precise control of neutron flux distribution throughout the operational lifetime of the fuel. Lightbridge stated that the fuel elements can be manufactured using additive manufacturing, enabling the production of complex multi-material geometries that would be difficult to achieve using conventional nuclear fuel fabrication methods.…