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The Atomic Show: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Rod Adams - Atomic Insights
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.
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- Sep 18, 202636 min
Atomic Show #354 – Doreen Harris, President and CEO NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority)
New York has a long and storied nuclear energy history. It is the home of the oldest operating commercial reactor, Nine Mile Point plus three other units that collectively produce more than 20% of its electricity. Those four units operate with an average capacity factor that is even higher than the already high U.S. nuclear fleet average. New York residents like those nuclear plants enough that they supported their representatives when they implemented one of the nation’s first subsidy programs designed to ensure that nuclear plants did not get shutdown as a result of temporary economic conditions. The Zero Emission Credit (ZEC) has successfully provided cost effective support for New York’s upstate nuclear plants for more than a decade. But it is also a state that abandoned a completed nuclear plant without ever operating it (Shoreham) and politically forced the closure of a two unit nuclear plant that cleanly and safely provided about a quarter of the electricity used in New York City. Due to that history, many people in the pronuclear world were surprised when Governor Kathy Hochul announced a strong pronuclear position accompanied by real action to enable the expanded use of nuclear technology. Doreen Harris, the President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) visited the Atomic Show to discuss New York’s pivot toward full blown support of new nuclear power. She cited many of the often-discussed benefits of welcoming nuclear development, including enabling large quantities of clean electricity, improving electricity grid performance and reliability, developing good paying career level jobs, supporting local communities and providing a steady stream of tax revenues for many different levels of government. We talked about the specific steps being undertaken to prepare for new nuclear development. Some of the steps discussed include forming committees – with representatives from multiple agencies and stakeholders – and producing reports, but we also talked about more concrete efforts that will contribute to constructive progress. A major component of the effort is to develop partnership and cooperative relations with other entities that have shared interests. Examples include the recently announced partnership with the Canadian providence of Ontario and New York’s position as a co-chair of the Advanced Nuclear First Mover Initiative under the leadership of the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO). I’m sure you will enjoy the show. You might find certain segments to be especially valuable.
- Sep 14, 202645 min
Atomic Show #353 – Assil Halimi, CEO and Co-Founder, Apollo Atomics
Apollo Atomics is developing a line of integral pressurized water reactors that builds on 70 years worth of operational experience with materials, chemistry, fuels, supply chains and training. The company is implementing a key improvement that they believe will significantly reduce cost, space and weight. They are planning to replace conventional shell and tube steam generators with printed circuit heat steam generators with far greater heat transfer surface area per unit volume. According to the company’s design calculations and early physical modeling, their technology can shrink the size of a steam generator by a factor of 20 while also giving them the ability to produce superheated steam. Printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) are not unknown or untested; they have made inroads into markets like floating LNG production platforms, but adoption has so far been limited. Assil Halimi, the CEO and Co-Founder of Apollo Atomics, visited the Atomic Show to describe his company and its innovative spin on the well established light water reactor. We talked about the advantages of far smaller steam generators that can transfer the same amount of heat and the transformation of the enormous components from virtually hand made works of art to something that can be mass manufactured in a factory. We talked about several technologies, including the mPower and NuScale Power Module, that appear to be very similar but have not achieved market traction. Assil described how Apollo’s Compact Steam Generator improves the situation. Assil also provided an overview of Apollo’s strategy of integrating powerful AI tools from the very beginning of design and manufacturing. The company has a long way to go and a great deal of catching up to do, but they are moving fast and taking advantage of technologies that were not available to the current leaders in the light water reactor industry. Warning: This show is a lot more technical than most Atomic Shows. The topic warrants the details. Disclosure: Nucleation Capital is an investor in Apollo Atomics.
- Aug 31, 202638 min
Atomic Show #352 – John Wagner, Director, Idaho National Laboratory
The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is in one of its busiest periods since the 1950s-late 1960s when it hosted the construction of 52 test, special purpose and demonstration nuclear reactors. Back when it was called the National Reactor Testing Station (1948-1974) it played a major role in today’s operating fleet of nuclear reactors, both commercial and naval. On June 4, 2026, for the first time in 50 years, a new reactor was constructed and tested at INL (Antares Mark 0). Then a second one started up on June 30 (Deployable Unity), and a third one on July 4 (Aalo-X). Within days to weeks, a fourth reactor will be started and not only operated at zero power criticality, but also brought to full power and operated through a series of stress tests culminating in a continuous full power run lasting at least 150 hours (Radiant Kaleidos). John Wagner, INL’s current Director, is one of the overseers of the action. On this episode of the Atomic Show, John shares pride, pleasure and passion for his organization and the contribution that it’s making towards a new nuclear era. We talked about the ways that INL’s staff assisted the private companies that built the machines that started up and how the staff provided assistance to reactor projects located in Utah (Valar) and Texas (Oklo) that have started up during the busy summer of 2026. John also made it abundantly clear that the private companies bore the costs of designing, building and operating their equipment. The laboratory staff, as well as the Department of Energy staff, played supportive roles as needed. They helped to remove artificial barriers in the way of timely mission accomplishment. INL is not just a nuclear energy laboratory. It also hosts major programs in micro-grids, grid integration, conventional renewable energy, geothermal energy and cyber security. John explains their importance to the modern electrical grid and the roles that they will play in the near future. We talked about John’s current research interests, including improvements in the way that we understand and regulate the health effects of low level radiation and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s dawning recognition that treating a double ended guillotine break in large light water reactor piping as a design basis accident is conservative in the extreme. You will enjoy this show. John is an engaging speaker in an influential position. He is one of the true leaders in the creation of a new nuclear era.
- Aug 17, 20261h 5m
Atomic Show #351 – Tori Shivanandan, President and COO Radiant Nuclear
Radiant Nuclear is a dynamic company that has designed, built and transported a complete micro reactor that fits onto the back of a truck. That reactor, named the Kaleidos, will soon be fueled, started and tested through five phases that will include 150 hours at full power without operator assistance. In order to run the tests right up to the full design basis conditions, the tests will be conducted in the National Reactor Innovation Center’s DOME facility. The reactor shipment began on August 13, 2026. Tori Shivanandan, Radiant’s President and Chief Operating Officer, visited the Atomic Show to tell us more about Radiant, Kaleidos, Doug Bernaur’s master plan for Radiant “Atoms for Prosperity”, R-50 – Radiant’s fifty reactor/year factory – and the career path that brought her to her key leadership role at an innovative reactor manufacturing company. Tori talked about growing up in rural Pennsylvania, her stint as the captain of the Carnegie Mellon women’s basketball team, the family-run industrial parts supplier that lured her to Southern California, the fork in the road between medical school and Radiant and her subsequent path to her current role. We discussed the value of transportable micro-reactors, the economics of behind the meter power generation, Radiant’s design for autonomous operation, the benefits of locating in Southern California’s defense and aerospace heartland, the minor obstacle of California’s prohibition against building and operating new nuclear reactors, and about Radiant’s progress in establishing the R-50 factory and its reactor fueling facility in Oak Ridge, TN. Tori described the important contributions being made by Radiant’s inspired and hard working employees and the way that mission drives them forward. She also emphasized the important role being played by adequate capital and several successful fund raising cycles. We talked about Kaleidos internal shielding and the way it can enable a reactor that has been operated for its full life cycle at 100% power to be road transportable in just 30 days. We discussed the system’s ability to go from site delivery to supplying loads within 48 hours and the utility that capability provides for disaster recovery as well as forward operating base power supply. We briefly covered Radiant’s selection as an initial base power supply provider for the Space Force, with its first unit to be delivered to the Buckley, CO Space Force base in 2028. Radiant has undertaken a true “shoot for the stars” mission of building a distributed U.S. electrical grid one megawatt at a time. It plans to be rolling one Kaleidos reactor per week out of its first factory, and to rapidly add additional factories as that one is refined and orders add up. Disclosure: Nucleation Capital, the sponsor of the Atomic Show and Atomic Insights, is an equity investor in Radiant Industries, Inc.
- Jul 24, 202650 min
Atomic Show #350 – Dr. Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Associate Laboratory Director, Energy & Environment Science & Technology, INL
The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is best known for its nuclear engineering and pioneering reactor testing programs. Somewhat lesser known is the Lab’s cutting edge research in all other energy sources including wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, biomass and batteries. The Energy and Environment, Science & Technology (EES&T) Directorate, one of five directorates at the Lab, focuses its research on understanding available energy sources and melding them into coherent and maximally effective systems. The Directorate’s R&D programs seek to take advantage of the special characteristics each energy source adds to the mix. Dr. Shannon Bragg-Sitton is INL’s Associate Laboratory Director in charge of the EES&T. She is a nuclear engineer by education and experience who initially focused on what she refers to as “nano-reactors.” Those devices, the smallest of which are no bigger than a kitchen trash can, are designed to serve space applications, either as planetary – or Lunar – power supplies or as propulsion sources. During our conversation, Shannon described her career trajectory from being a student to working at NASA to being a professor at Texas A&M focused on space nuclear power. She described moving to the Idaho National Laboratory as a way to broaden her technical and leadership scope. She mentioned how that move was partially motivated by the challenge of being a tenure track professor while also having three “very young” children. At INL, she branched out from her special interest in very small reactors and eventually found herself in charge of a division that developed concepts for micro grids that incorporate a wide variety of power sources in ways that maximized effectiveness and economy while still ensuring continuing reliability. She learned to appreciate the value and contributions from non nuclear power sources while never losing her passion for nuclear energy and its capabilities. Her career advice boils down to a set of recommendations for young professionals: Maintain a questioning attitude, Be open to new opportunities, Be willing to get outside of their comfort zone Be able to adapt in the face of changing circumstances. Aside: Shannon has a special interest in the development of young professionals in the nuclear industry. When we first met, she was part of a group of seven passionate professionals who were founding a group they called NA-YGN – North American Young Generation in Nuclear. At the time, the industry organizations were dominated by people in the north of 45 category. NA-YGN was aimed at people who were 35 or younger, but they made an exception for a 40+ blogger who shared their passion. End Aside. We talked about the utility of energy storage, both in the form of electrical energy stored in a chemical battery and thermal energy stored in a system like the molten salt tanks associated with TerraPower’s Natrium power plant. We talked a bit about the rapid successes being achieved in micro reactors as part of the Reactor Pilot Program and we also talked about the way that a number of exiting developments at INL are helping to contribute to a growing economy in Idaho Falls. As a long-time resident of Idaho Falls, Shannon expressed mixed emotions about the increased traffic and higher costs of living associated with new activities at INL, but came down on the side of being happy about the economic development. She also spoke passionately about Idaho as a wonderful place to live and to raise a family, especially if you like activities like hiking and camping. You’ll enjoy the show.
- Jul 15, 202646 min
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 taken over by the AEC, the land was controlled and used by the U.S. Navy to test refurbished weapons, up to and including the 16″ guns carried by battleships. After a five decade long hiatus in building new reactors while also implementing a significant level of diversification into other research areas, the INL is regaining strength in its original purpose as a place to test and demonstrate complete nuclear reactor power plants. (The term “plant” is not really applicable to micro-reactors, but it will serve as a general term for now.) This time through, the design, approval, construction and testing programs are not being led by a federal monopoly called the Atomic Energy Commission. It is not focused on developing reactors that can be used to test the ideas of scientists who don’t really care if anyone wants to buy the system they are developing. Instead, the reactor development efforts underway and in planning for the future are more cooperative, distributed and commercially driven. Josh Gillespie is the Chief Operating Officer of the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC). He visited the Atomic Show to talk about NRIC and its role in helping the Nuclear Renaissance gain traction and success. NRIC was created in 2019 as a result of directives and authorizations contained in the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (NEICA). Its purpose is to build bridges that enable private sector organizations to work with national laboratory scientists and physical resources to cross the “valley of death” between good ideas and commercially viable products. It is tasked with preparing facilities to serve as test beds for new reactor development and testing and to develop sites where new facilities can be built. Though it can be a challenge for any government organization – like a national lab – NRIC has been tasked to be able to operate at the speed of a start-up. It is taking strides in that direction, though it is still limited in speed by the federal government budget cycle. Josh described how NRIC is working closely with the Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office which is directly responsible for the DOE 1271 authorization process for both reactors and supporting facilities – like those that are in the fuel supply chain or involved in radioactive materials testing and evaluation. NRIC helps private sector companies develop their plans, find suitable facilities, prepare required submittals and engage in readiness reviews. NRIC’s reach extends beyond the boundaries of the Idaho National Laboratory; has been contracted to support several of the Reactor Pilot Program developers that have built or are building their reactors in Texas or Utah. Josh described DOME as the crowning jewel of NRICs facilities. It once served as the containment dome for the highly successful but prematurely retired Experimental Breeder Reactor II, the remains of which are encased in concrete and grout in the basement and foundations of the existing facility. DOME is designed to be able to host a test reactor that might be exercised to its limits while still preventing any release of radioactive materials. Radiant Nuclear was selected as the first tenant of the DOME. I
- Jul 13, 202639 min
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 build and operate small nuclear reactors for testing and demonstration. The program was initiated in 2020 and has created many opportunities to learn and improve. The current MARVEL program lead, Dr. Abdalla Abou-Jaoude, joined me for Atomic Show #348 to talk about the program and its historic accomplishments. Even though the MARVEL reactor has not yet been completed, he and his team – both superiors and subordinates – consider the program to be a research and development success story. MARVEL is a micro reactor designed to produce 85 kilowatts of thermal energy. Using Stirling engines, it will be able to produce approximately 20 kilowatts of electricity. That’s about the same generating capacity as a whole house generator for a 4,000 square foot American suburban home. The reactor uses uranium-zirconium hydride (UZrH) fuel rods with uranium enriched to less than 20% U-235 (HALEU). They are similar to those used in Triga research reactors. The reactor coolant is NaK (sodium potassium eutectic) that is naturally circulated through the reactor core and the system heat exchangers. The early system design concept included directly-connected Stirling engines to convert reactor heat to electricity. That configuration was proven to be unworkable during a non nuclear thermal testing program called PCAT – Primary Coolant Apparatus Test. The Stirling engines vibrated enough to put the rest of the system at risk of rapid deterioration, so the design was changed to include a secondary, non radioactive NaK loop that then transferred its heat to a tertiary molten salt loop. This choice allows the Stirling engines and the heat conversion system to be placed outside of the building. That design change had the added benefit of making it easier to use the MARVEL reactor system to test various direct heat applications; with the directly mounted engines, it would have been difficult to extract any product other than electricity. A major benefit of a government funded research and development program like MARVEL is that it can provide widely accessible lessons learned. For a variety of commercial reasons, private sector programs are less likely to share what they have learned from their mistakes or dead end choices. Private sector participants can be hesitant to be the first to move, especially in a field where everyone knows that the existing government approval process is a major barrier that needs to be improved. A government funded program has the ability to approach and overcome the barriers without incurring the risk that they are simply making the path easier and smoother for their competitors. The cliche “don’t fight city hall” applies; it’s a somewhat easier battle when you are part of the city hall machinery. Abdalla explained how the MARVEL program leaders are happy to see how later projects are moving more quickly and even passing it to reach certain key development milestones. MARVEL leaders feel like they did their job by helping to exercise and improve the processes of review and approval. The program has also helped to give dozens of engineers more experience in the process of moving component and system designs off of computer screens and into real life fabrication. Numerous entities from universities, governments and the private sector are queuing up to use MARVEL to test various concepts for taking advantage of nuclear fission heat. Some of the potential uses include desalination (especially produced water from oil and gas wells), hydrogen production, micro grids, remote operations and training AI for reactor control. MARVEL is currently scheduled to achieve dry criticality in 2026. It should achieve full power operations in 2028. It is classified as a non capitalized asset, which limits its projected operating life to about 2 years. It has sufficient fuel to last longer if the decision is made to extend it past the two year point. Even if it operates a little longer, the plan is still to have it reach the decommissioning phase quickly enough to serve as a barrier breaker for that important life cycle phase. You are sure to enjoy the show and to learn something in the process.
- Jun 20, 202640 min
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 ability to operate independently of the grid for years without needing any new fuel. Almost as important is their ability to be designed to retain byproducts and reduce heat signatures for improved stealth. Dr. Jeff Waksman Is the U.S. Army’s go-to guy for pioneering nuclear energy projects. Though no military-related project can be completed by a single person, program success often rests on the effective leadership provided by a singularly skilled leader who combines organization, inspiration and deep knowledge of how to get things done in a purposely hierarchical system. Before his current role for the Army, Waksman led Project Pele – the military’s first micro-reactor project in 50+ years – for the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office. He did well enough at that assignment to have been selected to lead a more expansive program to finally deliver nuclear fission capabilities to bases and units that need clean, reliable power that comes with a low logistics burden. Fission’s characteristics are nothing new and the military’s interest dates to the earliest days of nuclear energy. The political, environmental and strategic situation has changed enough in the 50 years since the Army’s Nuclear Power development program was effectively cancelled to stimulate new efforts to address the economic and technical challenges that were never solved during the 1960s and 70s. Waksman’s current role has the mouthful title of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (PDASA) for Installations, Energy and Environment (IE&E). Though only one of his responsibilities, he is the Army’s point person for a subsequent reactor development program called Project Janus. Dr. Waksman joined me on Atomic Show #347 to discuss the lessons taught by Project Pele and to provide insights on how those lessons are being incorporated into subsequent programs, both civilian and military. We covered a variety of topics, including: Reasons why he was picked to lead Project Pele Direction provided to the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office regarding program outcomes Focus on building systems that work in the real world instead of just more models Challenges of fitting inside tightly constrained boundaries (C-17 transport plane) Limiting components – not surprisingly, it was the heat exchanger that transferred reactor heat from the coolant gas to the power conversion system Importance of balance of plant compared to reactor Streamlining Department of Energy approval process Economic value of competition Economic trade-offs with the potential to make TRISO a more economic fuel than other options Project Pele’s influence on Reactor Pilot Program Project Janus goals and status Stretch goal timeline that includes the first operating reactor supplying a military base by the end of 2028 Expansion of the project beyond the Army to the Air Force and possibly the Navy Unquantified description of the possible magnitude of military reactor program Desire for military reactor program to stimulate a larger commercial reactor market I learned a lot from the show. Dr. Waksman shares valuable experience, including ways to avoid some of the bruises that came with leading the first-of-a-kind project for a modern transportable nuclear reactor and the U.S.’s first nuclear project development project in decades. I hope this show will influence those who follow so that they can make their own mistakes instead of repeating those that have already been made and documented.
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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.
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