#15 - Idaho National Lab: The Silicon Valley of Nuclear | Accelerating Advanced Reactor Tech

#15 - Idaho National Lab: The Silicon Valley of Nuclear | Accelerating Advanced Reactor Tech

Josh Gillespie, COO of the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC), discusses the pivotal role of Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in launching the next era of commercial nuclear energy. Transitioning from a 20-year career in Navy nuclear propulsion, Gillespie explains how NRIC bridges the gap between government resources and private startups through programs like Launchpad. By repurposing historic infrastructure like the EBR-II dome as a modern testbed, the lab provides the essential land, data, and safety expertise required to accelerate advanced reactor commercialization and secure domestic energy independence.

#14: Jake Jurewicz of Blue Energy | Prefab Nuclear and the Path to Project Finance

What if the key to scaling nuclear isn't a new reactor design — it's rethinking how you build them? Jake Jurewicz, co-founder and CEO of Blue Energy, joins Brennan Moore and Andrew Meehan to break down how prefabricating nuclear plants in shipyards — borrowing from the LNG and offshore oil and gas playbook — could cut construction timelines in half, eliminate the traveling circus problem, and finally make new nuclear projects financeable with private capital.

#13: Nick Smith of Raven-Flint | Solving the Uranium Conversion Crunch

Nuclear's future hinges on solving hidden bottlenecks like uranium conversion — a critical but often overlooked step in the fuel cycle. Nick Smith, founder of Raven-Flint and former Director at Idaho National Lab, brings deep nuclear engineering expertise to modernizing this step and helping advanced reactors scale faster and more safely. In this episode, he digs into the complexities of advancing nuclear technology, the chemistry behind efficient conversion, and how Raven-Flint is working to resolve a supply chain vulnerability with implications for both national security and the future of nuclear energy.

#12: Nuclear Roundtable | March 2026 with Andrew Meehan and Canon Bryan

Join host Brennan Moore, Andrew Meehan, and Canon Bryan as they unpack X-Energy's upcoming IPO, TerraPower's NRC construction permit, the new regulatory Path 53 that could expand nuclear approval in the near future, and much more. This month's roundtable has the latest news in the world of nuclear energy, including news from CERAWeek, their thoughts on cost-effective energy, and how the war in Iran proves the resilience of nuclear energy infrastructure.

#11: Financing New Nuclear: Inside the DevCo Model with NEI's Benton Arnett

Benton Arnett, Senior Director of Markets and Policy at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), joins Brennan Moore to break down how new nuclear projects are actually getting financed today.   We cover key takeaways from NEI’s Nuclear Financing Summit, why traditional nuclear players still have an edge in market perception, and how the DevCo model is emerging as a practical path to getting projects built.   Benton also explains the different “currencies” in nuclear financing today, from government support to corporate PPAs, and why big tech wants exposure to nuclear without owning the assets outright.   If you’re trying to understand what’s real vs. theoretical in nuclear deployment, this is a useful primer.