Atomic Show #314 – Economies of scale for micro, small, medium, large reactors – with Jame Krellenstein

Atomic Show #314 – Economies of scale for micro, small, medium, large reactors – with Jame Krellenstein

James Krellenstein is a physicist, consultant and nuclear energy historian. He is currently employed as a senior advisor to Global Health Strategies. He started up their decarbonization practice with an emphasis on nuclear energy along with renewables. He was the lead author on GEH’s report on ways to reduce global dependence on Russia for necessary…

Atomic Show #313 – Stefano Buono, Founder and CEO of Newcleo

Atomic Show #313 – Stefano Buono, Founder and CEO of Newcleo

Stefano Buono is a physicist and the successful founder of Advanced Accelerator Applications, a multibillion dollar company that pioneered the use of several therapeutic medical isotopes. After making several people very rich, including himself, he sold the medical isotope business and returned to his early 1990s field of study – nuclear fission reactors using molten…

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…

Unnecessary rules should be eliminated

Unnecessary rules should be eliminated

Commissioners on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are worried. They see a pending avalanche of license applications for new reactors, fuel production facilities, uranium mines, transportation containers, and waste repositories with an insufficiently sized and trained licensing workforce. They seem to be increasingly aware of their role in enabling a clean energy transition and they want…

Atomic Show #312 – Tyler Bernstein, CEO Zeno Power

Atomic Show #312 – Tyler Bernstein, CEO Zeno Power

Zeno Power makes cost-effective radioisotope power systems (RPS) for some of the most challenging environments in the solar system. Its systems use a proprietary package that allows a wider variety of isotopes to perform functions previously reserved for Pu-238, a rare isotope that is slowly produced at great expense. What is the value of RPS?…

Atomic Show #311 – Mary Jo Rogers – Founder, Rogers Leadership Group

Atomic Show #311 – Mary Jo Rogers – Founder, Rogers Leadership Group

Mary Jo Rogers is a trained clinical psychologist who developed her interest workforce safety cultures and leadership in the nuclear power sector while consulting and working for ComEd (later Exelon). At the time she began her work, ComEd was a perennially under-performing utility with new leaders that were committed to turning it into the best…

Experience Power with a healthy dose of microgrids, hydrogen and nuclear energy information

Experience Power with a healthy dose of microgrids, hydrogen and nuclear energy information

Each year since 1998, POWER Magazine has hosted a conference titled Experience Power that brings together utilities, suppliers, customers and energy leaders to discuss trends in the electric power sector. The event is currently organized as three colocated conferences, one focusing on electric power insights, one on distributed power and one on hydrogen. The 2023…

Where is the nuclear industry headed? Four top executives share their thoughts at ANS Utility Working Conference 2023

Where is the nuclear industry headed? Four top executives share their thoughts at ANS Utility Working Conference 2023

One good reason to attend industry conferences is to be able carefully listen to the thoughts of industry leaders, especially during unscripted panel discussions. When the executives are among colleagues and aren’t delivering prepared, vetted speeches with polished slides, it’s possible to glean valuable information that can help form the basis for future actions. As…

Sense of purpose at the 2023 ANS Utility Working Conference

Sense of purpose at the 2023 ANS Utility Working Conference

The theme at the annual American Nuclear Society Utility Working Conference (#ANSUWC) was resiliency, a term that applies equally well to the equipment and the people that make up the U.S. nuclear industry. Resiliency is similar to the materials engineering term of toughness; it’s the ability to withstand pressure and blows and to spring back…

The most secure place to store Plutonium is inside an operating fission reactor

The most secure place to store Plutonium is inside an operating fission reactor

Plutonium-239 (Pu-239) is a nuclear fuel source that should play an important role in a sustainable, rapidly growing nuclear power enterprise. It is a natural byproduct that is created inside every fission reactor using uranium fuel. It is fissile with characteristics that are similar to U-235, the fissile material that provides most of today’s nuclear…