Brett Rampal is the director of nuclear and power strategy at Veriten, a Houston-based energy advisory firm. In this episode, Brett, a nuclear engineer, talks about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent approval of NuScale Power's reactor design, why the agency could soon be overwhelmed by the number of companies trying to get permits for their reactors, the emerging fuel-supply challenges, and why the “biggest opportunity for nuclear in the U.S. might be for thermal output, not electricity.” (Recorded January 25, 2023.)

Kelly Wanser heads Silver Lining, a nonprofit  “dedicated to ensuring that society has information and options to address near-term climate risk.” In this episode, Wanser explains why she prefers to use the term “climate intervention” instead of “geoengineering,” how an “aerosol parasol” placed in the stratosphere might help reduce the danger of catastrophic climate change, and the many technical and political challenges facing climate intervention efforts. (Recorded February 9, 2023)

Rusty Towell is a professor of engineering and physics, and the director of the NEXT Lab, at Abilene Christian University, which applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last August for a construction permit that may allow it to build the first new research reactor of any kind in the U.S. in more than 30 years. In this episode, Towell walks us through the design of the molten salt reactor ACU wants to build, the hurdles it faces at the NRC, why the university may have an advantage in obtaining the enriched-uranium fuel it needs, and why, if the project succeeds, it could lead to commercial success in the small modular reactor market. (Recorded January 27, 2023.)

Anne Brande is a fourth-generation Wyomingite and the founder of the Laramie-based Albany County Conservancy, a non-profit which is opposing several proposed wind projects including Rail Tie, Two Rivers, and Rock Creek. Brande explains why her group may sue the federal government for possible violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, why “we need biodiversity” and why in her words, “I’m not going cower” despite the prospect of costly litigation.

Doomberg is the pseudonym of the team that runs the top-earning finance publication on Substack. In the famed green chicken’s second appearance on the podcast (the first was May 27, 2022) Doomberg talks about the “bipolarity” of the Biden administration on energy, the “two Chinas,” the formula the team uses for each Substack post, how they built the Doomberg brand, and why they are concerned about the growing political polarization in America.  

Mark Nelson, the managing director of the Radiant Energy Fund, joins the podcast for the fifth time, tying the record held by Meredith Angwin. (Mark’s last appearance was on March 3, 2022.) In this episode, Mark he talks about Germany’s expansion of the Garzweiler lignite mine, how warm weather has given Europe’s economy a “stay of execution,” Belgium’s plans to close its nuclear plants, and why it’s “almost impossible” to build new high-voltage transmission projects in the U.S.

Adam Rozencwajg is a managing partner at Goehring & Rozencwajg, a New York City-based investment firm that focuses on natural resources. In this episode, he explains why the “undercapitalized and underloved” oil and gas sector is going to continue seeing big profits, why rising interest rates and higher commodity prices are slamming the renewable sector, why EROEI -- energy return on energy invested -- is key to understanding our energy and power systems, and why, in his words, “nuclear power really gives me hope.” 

In her fifth appearance on the podcast, we welcome back Meredith Angwin, the author of Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid. (Her last appearance was on February 18, 2022). In this episode, Meredith talks about the blackouts that hit the eastern U.S. over the Christmas holiday, why grid reliability is getting worse, why generators in New England are having to burn more oil to produce power, why “’renewable’ is a marketing term,” and why trying to “electrify everything” and “run all that electricity on renewables and natural gas...No. That’s a really bad idea. We are putting too many eggs in those baskets.” (This episode was recorded on January 5, 2023.)

David Keith is a professor of applied physics at Harvard University and a leading thinker on energy and geoengineering. In this episode, Keith explains why we should be thinking seriously about injecting sulfur or other materials into the atmosphere to reduce the amount of solar radiation that hits the surface of the Earth, why the science of geoengineering needs more funding, and some of the issues that will have to be resolved to allow more robust experimentation with the technology. (Recorded September 28, 2022.) 

Judith A. Curry is a climatologist and former academic who is “appalled at the state of both the scientific and policy debates surrounding climate change.” In her second appearance on the podcast (the first was on October 20, 2020) Curry, the president and founder of Climate Forecast Applications Network, talks about her recent essay, “The climate ‘crisis’ isn’t what it used to be,” why we have to get better at understanding risk, the “propaganda machine” that promotes climate catastrophism, the “toy models” used by academics to justify all-renewable schemes, and why Twitter is an “indispensable tool for wicked scientists.” (Recorded December 12, 2022.)