Nuclear Barbarians

On today’s episode we take a brief break from all things nuclear to discuss the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Arnab Datta, Managing Director of Policy Implementation at Employ America, joined me to break down the basics of the SPR and outline what can be done to make it more robust.
This one’s for the real energy heads and anyone who cares about American resilience.
“Trade the SPR, Save the SPR” by Arnab Datta.
You can find Arnab on X.

In the final installment of my follow up series with nuclear companies, I spoke with Jonathan Webb, the co-founder and CEO of The Nuclear Company.

For those who don’t know, TNC is pursuing a fleet-scale build of big reactors (and perhaps small ones too!) with cutting edge tech to turn blue collar workers into the Iron Men of megaprojects. Jonathan broke down his vision for nuclear, why workers are the key to everything, what’s going on with TNC’s VC Summer build, and so much more. His big-hearted passion for nuclear really struck a chord with me.

Check out last year’s episode with TNC’s Chief Nuclear Officer, Joe Klecha, here.

And, if you’re in DC, check out TNC’s operating system demo at Deep Tech Week on September 8th!

Visit TNC’s website to learn more.

Late in the night on July 4th, Aalo Atomics took their test reactor critical. In this episode, Aalo’s co-founder and CEO, Matt Loszak, returned to speak with me about the company’s experience in the DOE’s reactor pilot program. The conversation took a fascinating look at moving fast and building things—from sourcing materials to cultivating mindset.

We recorded this a few weeks ago in anticipation of Aalo’s success. Needless to say I was not surprised when the team got it over the line. Huge congratulations to them and everyone else in the pilot program.

You can read more about their criticality here.

This is the first in a series of check-ins with previous guests about the unfolding nuclear renaissance. In this episode, Tyler Bernstein, CEO and co-founder of Zeno Power, returns to talk with me about Zeno’s progress (check out our first episode here). We chop it up about the importance of Trump’s EOs, NASA’s commitment to a permanent lunar base, and—wait! I’m burying the lede.

Zeno has just acquired Vallecitos Nuclear Center in California, the first commercially owned nuclear plant. Though the plant itself is decommissioned, Zeno will be using its hot cells to industrialize the production of their nuclear batteries. My conversation with Tyler made the nuclear renaissance feel all the more real.

The thumbnail for this episode is a photo of one of the hot cells; to see more (as we discuss in the episode), you can check out this video.

I'll admit, I'm a bit of a fusion skeptic. But! There are exciting things happening in the fusion industry these days. So, I brought Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, to talk to me about why things are looking up for fission's avant-garde cousin. Andrew's candor, insight, and enthusiasm made him a great guest. I had questions about everything from break-even hurdles to robotics and he handled it all with aplomb. I came away from this episode convinced that regardless of how near or far away commercial fusion may be, America should invest in R&D to try and crack it: the tech is too cool and the lessons we'll learn along the way too valuable.