For this episode, Joe Klecha, the Chief Nuclear Officer at The Nuclear Company, joined me to talk about his background as a navy nuke, his time working on the Vogtle build, and what it takes to pull off megaprojects.
Decades in management teach you that honesty and competence have a certain sound, and it sounds like Joe Klecha. Time to go long on The Nuclear Company, IMO.
That's all great. Very impressive. But it all seems to be based on traditional light-water reactors. What about Thorium-based molten salt reactors? Yes, they are still "experimental", but they have major advantages over traditional reactors. They operate at low pressure (1 atm as opposed to 150 atm), which greatly simplifies construction and reduces operating risks, for example.
Should we really be going all out with a technology that could soon be obsolete? Check out Thorcon https://thorconpower.com/
After taking another look at the Thorcon website, I recall that they are planning to build nuclear power plants in Asia to work around the corrupt and incompetent NRC in the US. Once the technology is proven there, there will be more pressure to bring it here, but the NRC really needs to be replaced or reined in before real progress is possible. See Jack Devanney and Robert Hargraves on substack for more information.
Decades in management teach you that honesty and competence have a certain sound, and it sounds like Joe Klecha. Time to go long on The Nuclear Company, IMO.
Completely agree!
Can Joe beat Emmet in arm wrestling?
You might enjoy recent expert panel discussion at Princeton University “Nuclear Power: Innovation or Revolution?” On YouTube.
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check it out.
That's all great. Very impressive. But it all seems to be based on traditional light-water reactors. What about Thorium-based molten salt reactors? Yes, they are still "experimental", but they have major advantages over traditional reactors. They operate at low pressure (1 atm as opposed to 150 atm), which greatly simplifies construction and reduces operating risks, for example.
Should we really be going all out with a technology that could soon be obsolete? Check out Thorcon https://thorconpower.com/
After taking another look at the Thorcon website, I recall that they are planning to build nuclear power plants in Asia to work around the corrupt and incompetent NRC in the US. Once the technology is proven there, there will be more pressure to bring it here, but the NRC really needs to be replaced or reined in before real progress is possible. See Jack Devanney and Robert Hargraves on substack for more information.
Vaporware
Bzzzzt. Wrong.
Palantir’s website does not list the nuclear corporation.
No discussion of delays and cost over-runs!