In the 12th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous dive into the surprising results of Goran’s recent research talk at McMaster University—where he revealed that building the same nuclear reactor design over and over doesn’t make things faster. In fact, it may slow things down. They explore the concept of “codification creep,” a form of managerial over-optimization that can backfire in large infrastructure projects. Could the way we document and standardize knowledge actually be holding nuclear back? And what does this tell us about why megaprojects across the U.S. have slowed down over the past 40 years? The conversation then pivots to breaking news out of Colorado, where nuclear has officially been redefined as “green energy.” Michael and Goran unpack whether this signals real progress or just political convenience, and what it tells us about the shifting narratives around clean energy. Tune in for a sharp and timely analysis of nuclear's past, present, and future.