#17: Idaho National Lab | Exploring the DOME with Sam Reiss

#17: Idaho National Lab | Exploring the DOME with Sam Reiss

Host Brennan Moore interviews Sam Reiss of the National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Lab regarding "the DOME" testing facility. Reiss outlines how NRIC's full cost-recovery model structurally de-risks advanced nuclear microreactors operationally, financially, and chronologically for commercial developers. Highlighting Radiant as the flagship facility's first upcoming developer, the discussion details the rigorous, bounded 20-megawatt safety criteria and supporting infrastructure ecosystem. Finally, a tour of an analog control room contrasts early passive safety stress-testing with modern, error-reducing digital interfaces.

#16: Idaho National Lab | Inside the DOE Advanced Fuels Campaign with Dan Wachs

Host Brennan Moore sits down with Dan Wachs, National Technical Director for the Advanced Fuels Campaign at Idaho National Lab, to explore the changing landscape of nuclear energy. Wachs details the industry's evolution from the "dark ages" of the 1990s to today's commercial renaissance driven by high-quality power demands. The conversation highlights critical supply chain bottlenecks in uranium conversion and enrichment, the development of robust TRISO and metallic fuels, and the game-changing economic potential of fuel reprocessing. Ultimately, Wachs underscores that scaling advanced reactors requires stabilizing domestic fuel cycles to secure long-term energy independence.

#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.