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  • Atomic Show #349 – Josh Gillespie, COO National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC)

    Atomic Show #349 – Josh Gillespie, COO National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC)

    Rod AdamsByRod Adams
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    Idaho National Laboratory (INL) was born in 1949 as the National Reactor Testing Station after the Atomic Energy Commission decided they needed a place to test controlled nuclear fission power systems. Before being taken over by the AEC, the land was controlled and used by the U.S. Navy to test refurbished weapons, up to and…

Atomic Insights Latest Posts

  • Atomic Show #348 – Abdalla Abou-Jaoude MARVEL Program Lead
    Advanced Atomic Technologies · Liquid Metal Cooled Reactors · Micro Reactors · New Nuclear · Smaller reactors · The Atomic Show Podcast

    Atomic Show #348 – Abdalla Abou-Jaoude MARVEL Program Lead

    MARVEL, a creative acronym meaning Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation, is a trail blazing reactor development program designed to help the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the nuclear industry remember how to…

  • Collage of images from Golden Era of Nuclear celebration. Images from Oklo, celebration, Aalo, Radiant, Deployable, and Antares.
    Advanced Atomic Technologies · Atomic Entrepreneurs · Atomic history · Gas Cooled Reactors · Gas cooled water moderated · Innovation · Liquid Fuel Reactors · Liquid Metal Cooled Reactors · Micro Reactors · Smaller reactors

    Celebrating the arrival of the Golden Era of Nuclear Power

    The dawn of the Golden Era of Nuclear Power in the United States was celebrated on June 25, 2026 with music, lights and inspirational speeches. A crowd of several thousand people at Idaho…

  • Atomic Show #347 – Dr. Jeff Waksman, Project Pele and Project Janus
    Advanced Atomic Technologies · Army Nuclear Program · Micro Reactors · New Nuclear · Nuclear deployment · Small Nuclear Power Plants · The Atomic Show Podcast

    Atomic Show #347 – Dr. Jeff Waksman, Project Pele and Project Janus

    The U.S. military has a strong and growing interest in using small and micro nuclear reactors as a means of reducing logistics challenges and improving operational resilience. They like nuclear reactors for their…

  • Atomic Show #346 – Greg Piefer, CEO and Founder, Shine Technologies
    Advanced Atomic Technologies · Atomic Entrepreneurs · Fuel Recycling · Fusion · isotopes · The Atomic Show Podcast · therapeutic radiation

    Atomic Show #346 – Greg Piefer, CEO and Founder, Shine Technologies

    Shine Technologies is a unique nuclear fusion company. The conventional path for nuclear fusion projects is to raise and spend billions of dollars and decades of research and development in efforts to successfully…

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The Atomic Show Podcast

The Atomic Show Podcast includes interviews, roundtable discussions and atomic geeks all centered around the idea that nuclear energy is an amazing boon for human society.

  • Atomic Show #349 – Josh Gillespie, COO National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC)
    Atomic Abundance · Innovation · The Atomic Show Podcast

    Atomic Show #349 – Josh Gillespie, COO National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC)

    Idaho National Laboratory (INL) was born in 1949 as the National Reactor Testing Station after the Atomic Energy Commission decided they needed a place to test controlled nuclear fission power systems. Before being…

  • Atomic Show #348 – Abdalla Abou-Jaoude MARVEL Program Lead
    Advanced Atomic Technologies · Liquid Metal Cooled Reactors · Micro Reactors · New Nuclear · Smaller reactors · The Atomic Show Podcast

    Atomic Show #348 – Abdalla Abou-Jaoude MARVEL Program Lead

    MARVEL, a creative acronym meaning Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation, is a trail blazing reactor development program designed to help the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the nuclear industry remember how to…

  • Atomic Show #347 – Dr. Jeff Waksman, Project Pele and Project Janus
    Advanced Atomic Technologies · Army Nuclear Program · Micro Reactors · New Nuclear · Nuclear deployment · Small Nuclear Power Plants · The Atomic Show Podcast

    Atomic Show #347 – Dr. Jeff Waksman, Project Pele and Project Janus

    The U.S. military has a strong and growing interest in using small and micro nuclear reactors as a means of reducing logistics challenges and improving operational resilience. They like nuclear reactors for their…

Small Module Reactors

SMR developments, politics, investments

  • Smaller nuclear power plants can be beautiful, despite the opposition of the UCS

    Dr. Edwin Lyman, Senior Scientist, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, has published a paper titled Small Isn’t Always Beautiful: Safety, Security, and Cost Concerns about Small Modular Reactors that poses many…

  • Treasure trove of documents about the ML-1, the US Army’s trailer-mounted, nitrogen-cooled, atomic fission-heated generator

    I recently published an article featuring a video from the Army Nuclear Power Program that focused on the Army’s mobile, low power closed cycle nitrogen cooled nuclear reactor designated the ML-1. The article…

  • HTR-PM – Nuclear-heated gas producing superheated steam

    The first HTR-PM (High Temperature Reactor – Pebble Module), one of the more intriguing nuclear plant designs, is currently under construction on the coast of the Shidao Bay near Weihai, China. This system…

AP 1000 Saga

Why one of the most advanced new reactors has been challenged.

  • AP1000 saga

    China may export the technology learned by building modern reactors

    I have some trouble explaining my reluctance to do business with China. Perhaps it is just stubbornness or my inability to move on from my long established Cold War mentality, but I simply…

  • Advanced Atomic Technologies · AP1000 saga · Business of atomic energy · New Nuclear · Pressurized Water

    Diseconomy of scale – world’s largest canned-motor reactor coolant pump

    On February 16, 2015, an AP article by Ray Henry titled Nuclear plants delayed in China, watched closely by US firms contained a short paragraph that has contributed to a number of sleepless…

  • AP1000 saga · Business of atomic energy · New Nuclear

    Toshiba Announces $6.3 B Writedown On A $229 M Construction Company Acquisition

    Toshiba’s chairman, Shigenori Shiga, has accepted the responsibility for his company’s financial challenges and operating losses and resigned his position as chairman and as a board member. He remains an executive with the…

The Smoking Gun Series

Stories of fossil fuel interests fighting nuclear

  • Smoking gun – part 2 (Direct anti-nuclear political comment from coal supporter)

    Back on 14 January 2006, I posted a comment titled “Smoking gun – part 1” in which I told you that I would be on the look out for nuclear opposition that can…

  • Smoking Gun Part 3 (Direct anti-nuclear comment from an Australian coal industry supporter)

    I came across an informative article in the Time South Pacific edition (on-line of course) titled Plugging in to Nuclear. The teaser summary of the article was enough to grab my attention As…

  • Following the money: who’s funding Stanford’s Natural Gas Initative

    A few days ago, I wrote about Stanford University’s new Natural Gas Initiative (NGI) and described why I thought the existence of that program helped to explain why some prominent Stanford professors —…

Investing in Nuclear

Nuclear investments – enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy

  • Parnassus Versus Green Century: A Contrast in Styles

    Parnassus Versus Green Century: A Contrast in Styles

    Cross-posted from Nucleation Capital June, July and August of 2023 were the three hottest months the Earth has ever seen by such a large margin, it left climate scientists agog. Climate disasters are abounding apace, with the U.S. hit by 23 large-scale disasters, a record-breaking year already. In Pakistan, extreme rainfall and flooding affected 33…

  • How Hot is Cold Fusion?

    How Hot is Cold Fusion?

    The 24th International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF24) was held at the lovely and spacious Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA over four days in late July. As a venture investor looking at evaluating and investing in a wide range of advanced nuclear ventures, I was invited to participate and/or sponsor the event. While…

Rod Adams

Managing Partner, Nucleation Capital, a venture fund enabling broader investor access to a diverse portfolio of advanced nuclear energy and deep decarbonization ventures. Nuclear energy expert and former submarine Engineer Officer with nuclear propulsion plant experience. Founder, Adams Atomic Engines, Inc. Host and producer, The Atomic Show Podcast.

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