The Atomic Exchange Podcast

In the 35th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with a light check-in that turns into an unexpected strategy lesson: IKEA’s modular design, network effects, and why flat-pack execution often beats “custom” complexity. From there they head to Castle Rock, Colorado, where rooftop solar appears on roughly every other home, and work through the mystery with incentives, politics, ROI math, and what might really be driving adoption when prices and policy do not fully explain it. The episode then shifts to AI power at industrial scale, unpacking Elon Musk’s Colossus data centers, 122-day build timelines, gas turbines staged just over the Mississippi–Tennessee line, the path to a gigawatt site, and how funding from personal equity, Gulf capital, and intercompany charges could fuel a winner-takes-most race. They close by asking what a Musk playbook would look like in nuclear, from radical simplification to factory-built units, and whether utilities should keep options open for a new wave of fast, standardized builds. Tune in for a practical, numbers-first tour of consumer tech, rooftop economics, and AI-era electricity.

In the 34th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with a personal check-in, global-events insomnia on one side and a birthday week on the other, before launching into Nuclear in the News. First up: Oklo’s plan for a used-fuel recycling plant in Oak Ridge and the BWXT–Kairos tie-up to scale TRISO fuel, and what that signals for a domestic advanced-fuel supply chain. Then to London, where WNA said it is “difficult to overstate” institutional investor demand while Microsoft joined as the Association’s first big-tech member, alongside new data on industrial “clustering” around nuclear sites. Back home, they parse Reuters’ build sheet, about 114 GW of new U.S. gas in the pipeline vs about 36 GW hydro and about 8 GW nuclear, and weigh pro-nuclear rhetoric against near-term gas realities. Along the way they ask whether to recycle fuel now or prioritize R&D, why TRISO is interesting, how depreciation rules (MACRS) tilt LCOE, and which messages actually move public support. Tune in for a candid, numbers-first tour of fuel cycles and finance signals.

In the 33rd installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with light notes on grout, a new smart lock, and Colorado’s wide-open neighborhoods before turning to Nuclear in the News. They weigh the Trump administration’s pause on several East Coast offshore wind projects, asking whether it is a needed security reset or an expensive mid-stream stop, and what government intervention does to project risk, financing, and ratepayers. From there, they dive into how risk really shows up in power prices, unpacking levelized cost of electricity through the lens of capital cost, firming, and both technical and non-technical risks. Examples include why nuclear in Ontario carries low completion and fuel risk, why gas looks very different in Texas than in Europe, and how solar and storage depend on long, fragile supply chains. They close by sketching a risk-adjusted LCOE framework and a case study idea comparing identical gas plants in Texas and Germany. Tune in for a practical look at policy shocks, project finance, and why the true cost of power depends on more than a single headline number.

In the 32nd installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with weekend notes and then roll into another Good Science vs Bad Science. They unpack their new working paper, "Cooling Under Fire" (now on SSRN), a response to “Atomic Rivers,” asking whether inland, water-cooled nuclear can stay reliable in a warming world. They quantify heat/drought curtailments (rare and small), separate planned, regulatory derates from true technical limits, and contrast nuclear’s steady capacity factors with wind/solar variability. They note that only a minority of plants use once-through river cooling, walk through technical fixes, and discuss when warmer outflow can help or harm local biota. The takeaway: modest adaptations keep output resilient, and policy should judge options on apples-to-apples grid realities. So, tune in for a clear, numbers-first tour of nuclear’s thermal resilience.

In the 31st installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with quick updates and note that "Cooling Under Fire" is now on SSRN. They touch on peer-review norms, then dive into another Business of Nuclear episode: this time a winners-and-losers scan. Goran maps the U.S. AI load surge from 30 TWh in 2000 to 600 TWh by 2028, led by Virginia, Texas, and California, and flags utilities set for major buildout (Dominion, Sempra) and OEMs with momentum (Westinghouse, GE Hitachi, NuScale). Michael zooms in on Canada, highlighting likely beneficiaries such as BWX Technologies, Cameco/Westinghouse, AtkinsRéalis, and CAE for workforce training, with potential long-run share pressure on gas and some renewables developers. They compare workforce bottlenecks, bridging trades into nuclear, and why Canada’s uranium base and CANDU cycle provide unusual supply security. The episode closes with a simple lens on AI power: more wires, more concrete, more reactors, and a grid ready for 24/7 demand. Tune in for a concise, numbers-first tour of AI-era electricity and the companies most likely to win or fall behind as nuclear scales.

In the 30th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with lab updates: early demos of their custom AI for the Canadian nuclear sector with McMaster Nuclear Operations & Facilities and Ontario Power Generation (OPG), plus a check-in on a new workforce input–output model and paper on what it would take to triple Canada’s nuclear capacity by 2050. They also pause to explain what the lab actually studies at the intersection of nuclear, economics, and policy. Then they run another Good Science vs Bad Science segment, taking apart an anti-nuclear op-ed. Point by point they test claims about build times, costs, and LCOE sources, add firming and financing where it belongs, and compare real-world grids like France and Germany. They look at mining risks across uranium, solar, wind, and hydro, clarify what “meltdown” rates really mean, and show how waste is stored and tracked. The takeaway is simple: fix execution and timelines, keep existing plants running where safe, and judge technologies on apples-to-apples numbers that reflect how power systems actually work. Tune in for another thoughtful discussion on all things nuclear.

In the 29th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous start with Goran's recent “less golf, more miniatures” lifestyle change, trading four-hour rounds for meditative tabletop painting and a quick riff on career phases and moderation. Then they dig into Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project: 2.6 GW across 176 turbines with a $10.7B headline that feels like “almost three gigawatts” until you factor capacity (about 42% on average, weaker in summer), a 30-year life, and the firming needed when wind drops. Goran walks through the real planner math, including financing and why firming can add roughly $40 per MWh now and rise as renewables grow. They compare CVOW to Vogtle 3 & 4, noting the $32B “nuclear cost” hides interest on an overnight cost near $12.5B, and that faster builds and realistic risk pricing can bring firm nuclear to about $150 per MWh, under wind once firming and financing are counted. They also hit incentives and politics, regulated-utility pass-throughs, AI data centers that can’t curtail, and the unglamorous risks of offshore hardware, from corrosion to cut cables, in a country with just one new jack-up vessel. A candid, numbers-first episode on speed to grid versus longevity, and why Dominion’s short-run choice may still leave a long-run gap that nuclear can fill.

In the 28th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous welcome their first ever guest, Scott MacKinnon, Senior Director of Logistics & Supply-Chain Network Integration at EtherLog°. Scott recounts how Goran’s McMaster talk on “why standardization can slow nuclear builds” sparked a pub-side debate that now becomes a full episode on logistics. The trio unpack codification creep, ask why 75 % of craft labour often waits idle, and probe whether just-in-time delivery really fits multi-gigawatt projects or if local buffers and “zero-trust” micro-measurement are safer bets. They model a hypothetical four-unit program, debate which chokepoint (reactor pressure vessels, grid gear or regulatory sign-offs) most threatens a schedule, and swap ideas for Apollo-style medals, pain-and-gain contracts, and 100 % completion bonuses to turn nuclear megaprojects into a true mission. Tune in for supply-chain stories, systems thinking, and a fresh lens on how logistics could shave years (and billions) off the next reactor build.

In the 27th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co‑hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with two case‑method deep dives. Goran debuts his new Harvard Business School case, Meta’s Energy Dilemma, where MBA teams weigh Llama’s vertical integration and whether Meta should own its own generation, trading land use, CO₂ and even “annual deaths” in a live financial model. That segues into his earlier Twitter takeover case, showing why students, armed with hard numbers, often side with Elon Musk’s mass‑layoff playbook while pundits and HR orthodoxy balk. Michael then checks in from Denver with a surreal Pearson Airport vignette: a calm traveler, a pistol magazine, and fifteen identical note‑taking officers. From there the pair launch a new recurring segment, The Business of Nuclear. Michael runs the tariff math: even a 50% U.S. Section 232 steel duty and Canada’s tightened quota move nuclear power costs by only pennies per MWh. Goran broadens it into a consumption‑vs‑income‑tax debate before previewing future company spotlights. Tune in for case‑room contrarianism and an inaugural market lens on nuclear’s growth.

In the 26th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co‑hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous open with a lighter detour on “always‑on” careers. Goran recalls his short‑lived stab at professional online poker, where the glamour fades into a smoky 12‑hour grind, while Michael explains why he would be the world’s worst poker player ever. The conversation then pivots to Hamilton, where Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised a 50 % tariff on non‑CUSMA steel that exceeds 2024 volumes and a fresh billion‑dollar innovation fund for domestic mills. Goran walks through the hard numbers: Canada exports roughly half its steel, 90 % of it to the United States, and argues Carney’s move is less chest‑thumping than a bid to stay in Washington’s good graces while shielding local jobs. Michael pushes back, asking whether the policy is more optics than leverage and whether deeper US integration at this point would really help Canadian industry. So, make sure to tune in for some poker metaphors, streamer angst, and a candid episode of trade‑policy math.