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?…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
Atomic Show #310 – Ron Faibish on Space Nuclear Power
In the past few years, there has been a strong revival of interest in using nuclear fission energy to power space travel and planetary exploration. There have also been new developments in radioisotope…
Atomic Show #309 – Matt Huber, Geography of Energy
Matt Huber is a professor of geography at Syracuse University. He writes about energy, economies and the way that energy sources have influenced modern societies and economies. One of his first books was…
McMurdo Station – the New York of the Deep Freeze South
(Note: If you are impatient and do not want to watch cute photos of penguins, skip to 19:06 to learn more about the reasons why the PM-3A, a 1,500 kilowatt nuclear electricity generator…
If Utilities Are Not Large Enough To Finance Nuclear Power, Consider Smaller Nuclear Plants
On numerous occasions, I have heard speeches or read commentary by leaders in the US electric utility industry that have made the case that utilities need to partner or merge in order to…
Army Nuclear Power Plants
Designation Description of Reactors SM-1 This stationary military reactor was the Army’s prototype and training facility. It began operation in April 1957 at Fort Belvoir, VA, several months before the Shippingport reactor. SM-1…
China breaks ground on world’s first Westinghouse AP1000
Chinaview.cn published a story on February 26, 2008 titled China starts excavation for world’s first 3rd-generation nuclear plant. The plant is the first of four reactors whose order was initially announced in December,…
GA Power announces a decision deferral until May 12
Last night, GA Power issued a terse press release stating that it will continue working on the detailed project assessment needed before it can decide whether or not to continue trying to complete…
Reactor Coolant Pumps for AP1000 still a problem
This is a story that I really don’t want to tell, but bad news is like old fish. It doesn’t smell any better as it ages. All eight AP1000 construction projects are at…
Smoking gun – German president of Environmental Protection Agency touts natural gas instead of nuclear
An article in The Guardian titled UK’s faith in nuclear power threatens renewables, says German energy expert is full of evidence of the alliance between natural gas salesmen and the advocates of unreliable…
Smoking Gun Part 4 (direct anti-nuclear comment from Dick Armey, who is advocating coal instead)
Dick Armey is a former US Congressman (Republican) who now serves as the chairman of FreedomWorks, a conservative, issues-based organization founded in 1984 that includes “full time staff in ten states and over…
Smoking Gun Part 16 – Leader of British National Union Of Miners Demands CCS and Nuclear Shutdown
I have always tried to be clear when I talk about how fossil fuel interests have been responsible for much of the success of the organized anti-nuclear movement. Many people in various discussion…
Nuclear Venture Capital
Nuclear Venture Capital – enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy
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…
Nucleating our carbon-managed future
If you’ve studied chemistry, you’ll know that the nucleation point describes the start of a change in physical state, such as from a solid to a liquid, or liquid to gas. Water starting to crystallize into ice nucleates where the first H2O molecules reorganize as a solid. We’re seeing a similar transformation of human society—forced…
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.