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The Atomic Show #032 – Uranium mineral collector – Ruth Sponsler

ByRod Adams

Chat with a uranium mineral collector and nuclear power supporter

Ruth Sponsler is an amateur mineral collector, a resident of the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and an active supporter of the use of nuclear energy. She blogs at We Support Lee.

Shane and I invited her onto the show to talk about her unusual hobby and find out how she goes about finding minerals, particularly those that contain uranium and thorium.

In addition to talking about mineral collecting, we spoke about local (to North Carolina) nuclear politics, European role models for energy production, and a bit of nuclear family history – Ruth’s mother knew people like Enrico Fermi and Leo Szliard.

We also discussed high mileage automobiles – Ruth drives a hybrid Prius while I have been driving a VW Jetta TDI (Turbo Diesel Injected) since 2001. Shane mentioned something about VW’s diesel production for the US – here is a link that provides a bit more detail VW and TDI for the future

The show concludes with a special guest appearance by some of Ruth’s minerals.

Following the show, you will hear a short promo for Hobo Radio, part of The Podcast Network line up of independently produced podcasts. I think I recognized the tune being whistled in the background as “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin. Of course, the snippets are too short to violate any copyright laws!

We hope you enjoyed this episode, especially hearing a new voice with a different perspective on nuclear matters. We plan to bring you more of those kinds of interviews – in fact, if you are interested or know someone that we should talk to, please do not hesitate to make a comment or suggestion.

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Rod Adams
Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

2 Comments

  2. T. Peters:

    Bushehr in fact has negative proliferation risk: if they want to keep it online, they have to keep making fuel at Natanz. If they have to make fuel at Natanz, it can’t be reconfigured for weapons.

Comments are closed.

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