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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,…
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Potential next step after demonstrating a reactor under DOE authorization
The Reactor Pilot Program (RPP) has been a rousing success. The group of four reactor criticalities achieved during the early phases of the RPP mark a major step forward in the process of…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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Project Pele – Part II. Enabling technologies
Building mobile nuclear power plants will be a challenge, but successfully meeting the challenges could alter the future trajectory of the energy and fuels supply industry. That is one of the largest and…
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Fission is an elegant way to heat a gas
What if it was possible to combine the low capital cost, reliability, and responsive operations of simple cycle combustion gas turbines with the low fuel cost and zero-emission capability of an actinide (uranium,…
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Small is Beautiful, Even for Nuclear Fission Reactors
E. F. Schumacher published a book titled Small is Beautiful in 1973 that has become one of the reference sources for ecologists and people interested in living on a human scale. In part,…
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One Toshiba Lesson – Organizations With Venerable Corporate Names Can Be Risky Acquisitions
There are numerous reasons why Toshiba, formerly an enormous and successful Japanese electronics manufacturer, is struggling to survive. One of the lessons available to be learned – once again – is caveat emptor…
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Nuclear plant output in China poised for rapid increases in 2018-2020
The last two days in June 2018 saw the first power generation from two separate first of a kind nuclear plants in China. Taishan 1, a 1650 MWe European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) was…
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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…
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Means, Motive and Opportunity – Who Discouraged US Nuclear Developments?
Conventional wisdom tells us that “Environmentalists” worried about one or more of the below complaints have influenced world opinion and encouraged the current negative investment perception that surrounds new nuclear power plants: Nuclear…
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ExxonMobil aiming to capture growth in US electricity market
On January 9, 2012, The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University held a hydrofracking workshop. The organizers invited a number of speakers from both industry and academia to discuss a contentious,…
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Selling “Clean, Natural Gas” By Casting Doubt On Nuclear Energy
Several times in the past week, I have pointed out just how much money is involved in pushing people to act in certain ways in response to the threat of global climate change….
Investing in Nuclear
Nuclear investments – enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy
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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…
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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.