Nuclear Fuel Cycle Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Growth is real but recent. filings ran from 2 in 2021 to 13 in 2024, a +550% rise over three years, with the peak year so far in 2020 at 17.
- The top of the field is concentrated. the top 5 assignees hold 31.4% of all 353 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 50.7%.
- Radiation protection is nearly as crowded as reactor design. G21C reactors sit at 45.0% of records while G21F shielding follows close behind at 30.3%, leaving fusion (G21B, 5.4%) comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (2 records) with 2024 (13) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 353 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 353 published records at the intersection of nuclear fuel cycle processing and the instrumentation and safety systems around it — neutron detection, coolant flow, radiation dose, plasma control, thermal hydraulics and radiation shielding. It spans filings from 2015 through the current data cut-off in August 2026, though publication lag of roughly 18 months means the last one to two years are still filling in.
The scope combines core fuel cycle terms with adjacent monitoring and safety domains, which is why reactor design and radiation shielding classes dominate the composition while fusion-specific and optical control classes appear as smaller, more open slices.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 353 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 17 in 2020, dipped, then climbed again from 2 in 2021 to 13 in 2024 — a +550% increase over that span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G21C (nuclear reactors) appears in 45.0% of records and G21F (radiation protection & shielding) in 30.3%, together anchoring the field. Measurement (G01T, 9.3%), materials analysis (G01N, 6.2%), medicinal preparations (A61K, 5.9%), optical control (G02F, 5.4%), fusion reactors (G21B, 5.4%) and power plant systems (G21D, 4.8%) are present but far thinner, since a record can carry more than one class these shares add to over 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 353 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Nuclear Fuel Cycle Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about nuclear fuel cycle patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited records
EP0676771A4 — Kernkraftstoffzyclus (Nuclear Fuel Cycle)
Filed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, this record describes a method of cycling nuclear fuel for a fast breeder and minor-actinoids annihilation reactor: sphere-pack fuel pins containing uranium-plutonium mixed nitride fuel and minor actinoids nitride fuel with sodium heat bonding, burned in a reactor core, then reprocessed via fused-salt electrolysis to recover uranium, plutonium and minor actinoids.Filed 1995-08-07 — illustrates how early fuel-cycle reprocessing claims still shape the prior art landscape reactors and shielding filings sit on today.
View full filing| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160045841A1 | New and improved system for processing various chemicals and materials | 860 |
| 2 | WO2014153570A2 | New and improved system for processing various chemicals and materials | 219 |
| 3 | US20060039524A1 | Multi-layered ceramic tube for fuel containment barrier and other applications in nuclear and fossil power pl… | 175 |
| 4 | US20090032178A1 | Multi-layered ceramic tube for fuel containment barrier and other applications in nuclear and fossil power pl… | 97 |
| 5 | US20210098143A1 | Offshore and marine vessel-based nuclear reactor configuration, deployment and operation | 80 |
| 6 | US20100105975A1 | Nuclear Assisted Hydrocarbon Production Method | 76 |
| 7 | US4450134A | Method and apparatus for handling nuclear fuel elements | 72 |
| 8 | US20030086520A1 | System and method for continuous optimization of control-variables during operation of a nuclear reactor | 70 |
| 9 | US4483816A | Apparatus and method for quantitative assay of generic transuranic wastes from nuclear reactors | 63 |
| 10 | US20040036025A1 | Method and apparatus to prevent signal pile-up | 61 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a signal of prior weight, not current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three findings that shape where a new filing is likely to clear and where it will run into dense prior art.
The top tier holds roughly a third of the field
The top 5 assignees together account for 111 of the 353 records in scope, 31.4% of the total, and the top 10 extend that to 50.7%. That leaves close to half the field spread across a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants.
Recent growth outpaces the 2020 peak's approach curve
Filings climbed from 2 in 2021 to 13 in 2024, a +550% rise over three years. The field's historical peak so far remains 2020 at 17 filings, meaning the current run is still catching up to, not yet exceeding, that high point.
Reactor and shielding claims dwarf fusion-specific filings
G21C nuclear reactors and G21F radiation protection together cover the bulk of activity, at 45.0% and 30.3% of records respectively. Fusion reactors (G21B) sit at just 5.4%, a much thinner slice given the scope's inclusion of plasma control terms.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to nuclear fuel cycle patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the activity has gone quiet
The ranked leaders span reactor OEMs, national labs and university systems, but recent-year momentum data shows the named leaders with zero filings in the latest tracked year — consistent with a field where publication lag masks the newest activity.
One assignee leads outright
The leading assignee holds 28 records, ahead of a fifth-place holder at 17 and a tenth-place holder at 11 — a steep drop-off that signals a genuine leader rather than a tight cluster at the top.
Co-assignee activity is limited but pointed
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset. The strongest pairing links a children's hospital research center with a medical sciences foundation at 11 joint records, suggesting fuel-cycle-adjacent radiation work reaching into medical applications rather than pure reactor engineering.
Latest-year filings show up empty for top names
Every one of the tracked leading assignees shows 0 filings in the latest year on record. This is very likely a publication-lag artefact rather than an actual pullback, since filings typically take about 18 months to surface as published records.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Hazprotect Pty Ltd | 0 | — |
| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Board of Regents of the University of Texas System | 0 | — |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC | 0 | — |
| Toshiba Corporation | 0 | — |
| THORIZON HLDG BV | 0 | -100% |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The patterns above point to specific next questions rather than a finished picture.
Map claim scope inside G21C and G21F
With 45.0% and 30.3% of records respectively, these two classes carry the field's densest prior art. A claim-by-claim read of the leading assignees' families would show exactly which reactor and shielding sub-claims are already occupied.
Explore reactor and shielding claimsWatch the 2024 growth cohort
The jump from 2 filings in 2021 to 13 in 2024 marks a real inflection. Tracking which assignees drove that specific rise, rather than the field average, would clarify whether it is one lab or a broader shift.
Track recent filersProbe the fusion and optical-control gap
G21B fusion reactors and G02F optical control each sit at 5.4% of records, thin relative to the scope's inclusion of plasma control search terms. That gap is worth testing against a first claim before assuming it is unclaimed.
Check fusion-adjacent white spaceCommon questions about nuclear fuel cycle patents
The dataset ranks 100 companies by record count, with a single leading assignee at 28 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked holder at 17 and the tenth-ranked holder at 11. The top 5 assignees combined hold 31.4% of all 353 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 50.7%, so roughly half the field is spread across a long tail of smaller filers. This is not a top-50 or top-100 list in the conventional sense — it is the full ranking the underlying data returns.
Filings grew sharply in recent tracked years, from 2 in 2021 to 13 in 2024, a +550% increase over that three-year span. The field's historical peak so far remains 2020 at 17 filings, so the recent growth is approaching but has not yet exceeded that high point. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower only because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, not because activity has actually dropped.
Nuclear reactors (IPC class G21C) appear in 45.0% of the 353 records in scope, and radiation protection and shielding (G21F) appear in 30.3%, making these the two densest areas. Measurement, materials analysis, medicinal preparations, optical control, fusion reactors and nuclear power plant systems each account for under 10% of records individually. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%, which is expected.
Fusion reactor classifications (G21B) and optical control (G02F) each sit at only 5.4% of records, notably thinner than the reactor and shielding classes despite the search scope explicitly including plasma control terms. Areas like thermal-hydraulic sensing for smaller reactor formats and radiation-monitoring instrumentation built around optical modulation also show thinner coverage relative to the core reactor and shielding claim space. These are signals of lighter filing density, not confirmation of a clear path — a freedom-to-operate check against the relevant families is still necessary before filing.
US20160045841A1, cited 860 times within this corpus, and its related filing WO2014153570A2 at 219 citations, both concern systems for processing chemicals and materials relevant to fuel cycle work, and their citation counts mark them as influential reference points for later filings. High citation counts inside a searched corpus tend to favour older records simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations, so this reflects influence rather than current technical importance. A newer filing that cites these should be checked against their claims specifically, not treated as evidence the space around them is settled.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.