Episode Content:

• The ARC origen story through resurrection of a decades old nuclear prototype EBR-2

• A technical discussion on "closing the fuel cycle", "breeding", "electrochemical refining"

• The advantages of ARC from a Waste, Cost, Safety and matching market conditions

• A discussion of sodium and "pool type" vs "loop type" design

• A discussion of metallic uranium fuel vs uranium oxide

• Negative reactivity feedback characteristics enabled by neutron leakage

• Historical examples of this style reactor's inherent safety features

• A quick comparison of the four metal fuel designs ARC, PRISM, OKLO, and TERRAPOWER

• Nuclear economics and how to balance economies of scale vs diseconomies of scale

• Advantages of the Canadian Licensing Regime: 2 stages & risk-based approach

Episode Content:

• The origin story of Clearpath and politics role in the climate divide 

• The "full toolkit" solution to world energy

• The "more innovation and less regulation" approach to federal policy

• An explanation of Production Tax credits and how they fit into energy markets

• "Leveling the playing field" for zero emissions standards

• How they focus on the innovation and the government's role in R&D

• Refocusing the Department of Energy's R&D efforts with moonshot initiatives

• Changing the paradigm of how we build new nuclear

• Three other research groups intensely focused on understanding construction costs

• China - and the risks of us ceding world nuclear leadership to them

• Energy's role in international political relationships

• The three things we need to move the industry forward...

Episode Content:

• Mark's background in geology and how that ties in to spent fuel disposal

• His lab career starting at Los Alamos, then Argonne, then INL

• INL's history and role in developing nuclear technology

• New technologies that help bring advanced reactors to fruition

• Specifically how INL helps facilitate the commercialize new reactor technology

• How the National Labs work with industry and role of R&D in US competitiveness

• INL's work as the "underwriter's lab" of storage technology

• How the various contributions of the national labs work as a whole system

• How competing on ideas drives science forward

• Smartgrid, cybersecurity, and design with resiliency in mind

• The importance of multidisciplinary learning and

• Mark's insight looking towards the future of technology 

Episode Content:

• John's career at the Department of Energy, the National Labs, as an ANS congressional fellow, and in the private sector

• Serving on the Blue Ribbon commission for nuclear waste management

• Why deployment time is key to cost reduction

• NEI's national nuclear energy strategy: Preserve, Sustain, Innovate, and Thrive

• An explanation of "negative pricing" and the unintended consequences of tax credits

• The long term strategic advantages that come form being a global energy supplier

• Pros and Cons of various mechanisms the government can use to support the industry

• How SMRs alleviate some of the market problems nuclear faces today

• Some of the other all-stars at NEI: Maria, Dan, John, Pam, etc.

• A key tale for nuclear reactor innovators... 

Episode Content:

• Jeff's earlier career as an NRC vendor inspector 

• The relationship between NRC and Industry including the balance of health and safety against cost and schedule 

• His work with Westinghouse bidding on an South African nuclear build and the story behind their attempted development of the pebble bed

• A description of the Pebble Bed technology advantages

• Further details on the X-energy fuel and reactor technology

• The role of Silicon Carbide in in TRISO Fuel 

• An alternative safety approach to redundancy and defense in depth

• The X-energy team composition and its founder Kam Ghaffarian 

• How high temperature nuclear can be used for water desalination

• Further details of X-energy's deployment strategy

• Jessica's start in Astrophysics, transition to Energy, and how she joined Breakthrough

• The various topic areas the Breakthrough Institute focuses on and its origin story

• The biggest challenge of Nuclear being cost and how to approach building differently

• A review of modular construction techniques and readiness levels

• Deployment timelines and how to make nuclear innovative

• How construction costs differ across country

• The market for exporting nuclear technologies and various factors that make it attractive

• The importance of fuel reliability, export control, and security considerations

• Canada's efforts on licensing advanced reactor technologies

• Floating Reactors, Micro Reactors, Autonomous Reactors

Episode Content:

• How Emma’s personal experiences abroad developed her interest in energy issues

• Her dual participation in both technical research and social advocacy

• How she got involved in Mothers for Nuclear and focus of Students for Nuclear

• She discusses the relationship between INL and the several local universities

• Developing a model in the nuclear fuel model simulator Cyclus

• Then we do a deep dive into Cyclus itself and Emma’s efforts to evolve this model to incorporate a hybrid energy ecosystem as well

• How she sees the role hybrid energy systems play in transforming the world

• She also shares with us  an amazing perspective on what happens holistically when we make energy cheaper

Episode Content:

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• The basics of fuel fabrication

• What it’s like to live in the community around and to work at a Nuclear Power plant

• A description of what happens when you reload fuel in a reactor

• His work with the Light Water Reactor sustainability program and how they design ways to extend the life of the existing fleet

• The function of the Advanced Test Reactor, the largest test reactor in the US

• The role that Small Modular Reactors play in the future of the nuclear power industry

• Nuscale’s efforts in commercializing SMR technology and

• INL’s role in hosting a demonstration version of this technology and others

Episode Content:

• Her fascinating entrance to the Nuclear field at an incredibly young age

• An overview of space nuclear reactors

• The wide variety of the different projects she’s participated in at INL

• She dives into energy availability intermittency and transmission

• Applying nuclear energy as an Industrial heat source, utilizing the steam for district heating, chemical process, water desalination, and how all this fits into broader energy ecosystem

• The many uses of hydrogen and how it can be integrated in a nuclear system

• Laboratory scale model validation of the worlds future integrated energy systems

Episode Content:

• How Hans became interested in nuclear energy

• An overview of the of pebble bed technology physics and materials

• How high temperature can be safer than low temperature

• The ups and downs of interest in the technology

• He explains need to build expertise, infrastructure, modeling and new regulations just to lay the foundation for commercializing new technologies

• Why even a 50MW pilot project is a large endeavor

• The role INL plays as an independent auditor and fuel qualifier

• He articulates the difference between pebblebed and prismatic reactors

• We wrap up with where Hans sees the future of Nuclear technology