Naked Nuclear

SNEAK PEAK!Season 4 of Naked Nuclear is about the infrastructure underneath nuclear energy, the laws, regulations, economics, and institutions most people never think about. Ross Matzkin-Bridger is exactly the right person to open that conversation.As Senior Director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative and a senior advisor at the Nuclear Scaling Initiative, Ross has spent 11 years in U.S. government bouncing between nuclear nonproliferation and energy policy. He grew up near reactors in Michigan and New Hampshire, lived in Japan, and has built his career on one question: how do we get all the benefits of nuclear energy without any of the weapons risks?In this episode: the domestic and international guardrails keeping nuclear energy separate from nuclear weapons, the economics of building at scale, who the real decision-makers are, and a clear framework for evaluating the dozens of reactor designs competing for attention.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN- How the NRC, IAEA, and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) work together to keep nuclear energy peaceful- Why the fuel in U.S. reactors (low-enriched uranium) is fundamentally different from weapons-usable material — and why that distinction matters- Who decides which reactor technologies get built: government, industry, and communities- Why the U.S. goal of quadrupling nuclear by 2050 requires more than just technology- The "onesies and twosies" problem: why building at scale changes the economics entirely- Ross's four-bin framework for evaluating reactor designs (and why spent fuel reprocessing lands in "Bin 4")- When we can realistically expect new nuclear plants to come onlineTHE FOUR BINS FRAMEWORK1. TRIED AND TRUE: Already deployed, licensed, producing electricity. First candidates for scaling.2. ON THE CUSP: Based on proven technology with smart modifications. SMRs live here.3. INTERESTING BUT SPECULATIVE: Real science, not yet ready for scaling. Sodium-cooled fast reactors, molten salt.4. SCALING INHIBITORS: Technologies that introduce weapons-usable materials (plutonium) into the fuel cycle. Spent fuel reprocessing lands here.CONNECT WITH ROSS & NSINuclear Threat Initiative: https://www.nti.org/Nuclear Scaling Initiative: https://www.nuclearscaling.org/NTI on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuclear-threat-initiative/NTI on Instagram: @nuclearthreatinitiativeNSI Reactor Selection Tool: Available at nuclearscaling.org, helps stakeholders compare reactor designs across security, economics, and deployment readiness criteria.RESOURCES MENTIONED- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/npt/- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): https://www.iaea.org/- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC): https://www.nrc.gov/- NTI Nuclear Security Index: https://www.ntiindex.org/- Clean Air Task Force: https://www.catf.us/- Energy Futures Initiative Foundation: https://www.energyfuturesinitiative.org/JOIN THE NUCLEAR WORKFORCEA quadrupled nuclear sector means a much bigger workforce. Whether you're an engineer, a trades worker, or someone curious about nuclear careers — the industry is hiring.Nuclear Talent Scout connects candidates with nuclear employers.Apply here: https://forms.clickup.com/20124732/f/k651w-5551/4VA92A2B0QA0RJEHJB

Mark Schneider accidentally became a nuclear professional at 17 when a sarcastic answer to a Navy recruiter — "only if you have nuclear power" — launched a 20-year career. He went on to serve as a nuclear electronics technician, make chief petty officer, earn his commission as a nuclear-powered limited-duty officer, and operate reactors on three submarines and an aircraft carrier.Now he's the Chief Nuclear Officer at UBH Group, and his current mission is one of the most unusual in the industry: building Australia's nuclear workforce from the ground up. Because of AUKUS, Australia is getting nuclear-powered submarines for the first time and they need people who understand what that actually means.What this conversation - How a sarcastic teenager accidentally built a 20-year nuclear career in the U.S. Navy- What it's like to operate reactors on nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers- Why "a nuclear reactor that happens to submerge" is the same as any other reactor- How AUKUS is creating one of the most unusual nuclear workforce challenges in the world- What ISO 19443, NQA1, and 10 CFR 50 supply chain standards actually mean in practice- Why the O-ring on a cooling pump matters as much as any major system- AUKUS Submarine Partnership: https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3326875/- ISO 19443 (nuclear supply chain quality management)- NQA-1 (American Society of Mechanical Engineers nuclear quality assurance)- 10 CFR 50 (NRC domestic licensing requirements for nuclear facilities)Are you a skilled trades worker or veteran interested in a nuclear career? Nuclear Talent Scout matches candidates with nuclear employers — and the industry is hiring.Apply here: https://forms.clickup.com/20124732/f/k651w-5551/4VA92A2B0QA0RJEHJB

Jonas Helwig is Swedish-born, French-passport-holding, and was living in Ukraine when the war started. He fled with his wife and their newborn daughter, ended up in Buenos Aires by accident, and his neighbor turned out to be a nuclear energy manufacturer.Over dinner conversations with a pen and paper, they sketched out the N1, and Jonas joined the company. That's how Nuclearis Energy started.In this episode, Jonas walks us through the N1 micromodular reactor: what it is, how it solves the efficiency problem that makes most microreactors uneconomical, why air-cooling changes where nuclear can go, how the design process started at the spent fuel and worked backwards, and what a "nuclear renaissance" actually means.CONNECT WITH JONAS & NUCLEARISJonas Helwig on LinkedIn: Search "Jonas Helwig Nuclearis"Nuclearis Energy website: https://www.nuclearisenergy.com/Nuclearis on X: Search @nuclearisenergyNuclearis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuclearis-energy/- Atucha Nuclear Power Plants (Argentina): https://www.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=388JOIN THE NUCLEAR WORKFORCECompanies like Nuclearis are gearing up for major engineering hiring. And across the industry, the nuclear workforce shortage is real, the sector needs people now.Nuclear Talent Scout connects skilled candidates with nuclear employers.Apply here: https://forms.clickup.com/20124732/f/k651w-5551/4VA92A2B0QA0RJEHJBABOUT NAKED NUCLEARNaked Nuclear is the podcast that pulls back the curtain on the nuclear industry — no hype, no fear, just real conversations with the people doing the work. Hosted by Danielle Allen.Website: www.nakednuclear.com

Ed McGinnis said something in our last episode that's hard to shake: 96% of the energy in spent nuclear fuel has never been touched. The physics checks out. But what happens when countries actually try to get that energy back?This After Pop digs into the history of nuclear fuel recycling, not the theory, but the track record. France, the UK, Japan. Staggering sums of money. Complicated results. And a 1977 executive order that changed everything.We break down what PUREX actually does, why Jimmy Carter banned commercial reprocessing, and what any next-generation recycling technology (including Curio's NuCycle) would actually have to solve to change the equation.France's La Hague plant: running since 1976, processing 1,000+ tons of spent fuel per year, and saving roughly 18,000 metric tons of natural uranium. Also: a Court of Auditors estimate ranging from €16 billion to €58 billion in total program costs.The UK's Sellafield THORP: built for £1.8 billion, promised £500 million in profit, delivered £1 billion in losses, closed in 2018. Decommissioning costs are estimated at up to £250 billion and won't be finished until 2125.Japan's Rokkasho: supposed to open in 1997. It's 2026. Construction costs have hit ¥3.7 trillion (~$25 billion), with lifecycle costs projected above $100 billion. It has never processed a full ton of commercial fuel at capacity.PUREX: what it actually does, why it was designed the way it was (Manhattan Project-era, weapons-grade plutonium), and why producing a pure stream of separated plutonium is the source of the proliferation problem.India's 1974 Smiling Buddha test: where Carter's concern came from, and why it wasn't theoretical.The five things next-gen recycling has to solve: cost, proliferation resistance, regulation, waste, and public trust.The numbers that matter:~$85/lb: current uranium spot price~$140/lb (~$360/kg): the price at which reprocessing starts to break even, per Harvard's Belfer Center99 metric tons: France's current separated civilian plutonium stockpile44.4 metric tons: Japan's separated plutonium (most of it sitting in France and the UK)300 years vs. 100,000+ years: radiotoxicity timeline for recycled waste vs. direct disposalResources:Harvard Belfer Center, The Economics of Reprocessing vs. Direct Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel: https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/economics-reprocessing-vs-direct-disposal-spent-nuclear-fuelFrance's Court of Auditors report on nuclear costs (English summary via World Nuclear Association): https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/fuel-recycling/processing-of-used-nuclear-fuelUK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Sellafield: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/nuclear-decommissioning-authorityJapan Atomic Energy Commission, Rokkasho lifecycle cost estimate: https://www.jaec.go.jp/en/Jimmy Carter's Executive Order on Reprocessing (1977): https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ml1209/ML120960615.pdfIAEA, Proliferation resistance of nuclear fuel cycles: https://www.iaea.org/topics/nuclear-fuel-cycle

Imagine filling up your car at a gas station in Washington, DC, and heading toward Richmond. Twenty miles down the road, you pull over, call a tow truck, and scrap the car, with 96% of the fuel still in the tank. That's what we do with nuclear fuel in the United States right now.Ed McGinnis is the CEO of Curio and a former senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy. He's spent decades in nuclear policy and energy security, and he's now building something that could change how we think about nuclear waste entirely. Spoiler: he doesn't even call it waste. He calls it "slightly used fuel."In this episode, Ed breaks down why the U.S. stopped recycling nuclear fuel in the 1970s, what went wrong with the Cold War-era Purex process, and how Curio's NuCycle technology does it differently ... without ever separating pure plutonium. We get into the $50 billion Nuclear Waste Fund that was collected from ratepayers and spent on other things, why the DOE is now paying over a billion dollars a year in court-ordered damages, and how 90,000+ metric tons of used fuel sitting at reactor sites across the country is actually the largest above-ground energy reserve in the world.Plus: Curio's planned recycling facility, bigger than a football stadium, processing more fuel than every other recycling facility on the planet combined, and the 3,000+ trades-based jobs it would create at around $125K a year for 60+ years.Topics covered:Why only 3-4% of nuclear fuel is actually used — and 96% is still usable energyThe difference between the Cold War Purex process and Curio's NuCycle technologyPresident Carter's ban on fuel recycling and the $13+ billion in lost investmentsHow recycling reduces radiotoxicity from 100,000+ years to about 300 yearsCurio's partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2019The Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the $50 billion fund, and the billion-dollar-a-year lawsuit payoutsRussia still providing 20%+ of U.S. nuclear fuel — and what that means for energy securityCurio's planned facility: 4,000 metric tons per year, 3,000+ jobs, mostly tradesCurio's own SMR and micro-reactor designs (TrueFuel)Resources: Learn more about CURIO: curio.energy Jimmy Carter's Ruling on Reprocessing Spent Nuclear Fuel: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ml1209/ML120960615.pdf