Reed Clay, President of the Texas Nuclear Alliance, joined me today to talk about how Texas is gearing up for the nuclear renaissance. We discussed how he came to support nuclear by learning about waste, what has set Texas’s nuclear strategy apart from other states, how TNA’s annual summit is shaping the national nuclear landscape, and Reed’s advice for other states that want to become nuclear hubs.Reed is a humble, hard-working guy and it was a pleasure to speak with him.
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Reactors by the Bargeful by Jake Jurewicz (Blue Energy)
This episode is dedicated to all of the light water reactor fans out there. Especially if you like your LWRs in water. Listen to this conversation with the co-founder and CEO of Blue Energy, Jake Jurewicz, and you'll understand what I mean. Jake is a utility industry veteran with a lifetime of experience on construction sites, so our discussion about how his new company is going to site SMRs on waterways and ship them by barge gets into all kinds of deployment nitty gritty: management, permitting, financing, you name it. Check out Blue Energy's website, LinkedIn, and X account.
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Moving the World ft. Craig Fuller (Freightwaves)
Craig Fuller comes from a legacy trucking family. He’s also the CEO and founder of Freightwaves, the Bloomberg of logistics. So, Craig’s the perfect guy to write an accessible primer on supply chains, which is exactly what he’s done. He came on the show to talk about the new book, Moving the World: How the Supply Chain’s Evolution Affects Us All (which you can pre-order here!). We dig into what the Covid crisis taught us about supply chains, why reshoring makes sense both economically and strategically, and how supply chains and the grid are similar. Nuclear Barbarians is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe
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Seafloor, Icecap, Moon ft. Tyler Bernstein of Zeno Power
Zeno Power, a cutting edge nuclear company, is making batteries powered with Strontium 90 for niche deployment cases: the moon, the arctic, and the seafloor. I got to pick Zeno cofounder and CEO Tyler Bernstein’s brain about their exciting new technology, why Zeno’s work is critical in our increasingly multipolar world, and the upsides of competing with China. This was a fascinating discussion and I think you guys are going to love it. Not long after we recorded this episode, Zeno added former NASA chief technologist AC Charania to its team as SVP of Space Business Development. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe
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Tickling the Dragon ft. Matt Loszak of Aalo Atomics
Matt Loszak, the cofounder and CEO of Aalo Atomics, joined me to talk about Aalo’s progress rolling SMRs off the factory line. We get into Aalo’s test reactor at Idaho National Labs, a DOE path toward approving nuclear designs, how Trump’s nuclear executive orders have helped the industry, “zero power criticality,” and more.Since we recorded this episode, Aalo has closed its $100 million Series B and has officially been selected by the DOE to test the Aalo-X reactor at INL by hitting zero power criticality. And then they broke ground on the project just a few days ago! Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe
Emmet Penney talks to experts, workers, journalists, and scholars from all over the world about nuclear energy, energy issues, culture, and society. Subscribe to the substack to get the newsletter and the podcast sent directly to your inbox: https://nuclearbarians.substack.com/ www.nuclearbarbarians.com
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