Friedberg

Yeah, and so these old reactors have this risk where you pump water in to cool down the reactor and to drive the turbine. And if the water pumping system fails and you can't get the rods out of the reactor,

then the reactor keeps reacting, the uranium keeps having this kind of chain reaction, gets hotter and hotter and eventually gets so hot, it melts all the walls and all the surrounding materials of the reactor and all of the nuclear rods start to evaporate and all this nuclear material is released into the environment. That's the risk of a meltdown ultimately.

then the reactor keeps reacting, the uranium keeps having this kind of chain reaction, gets hotter and hotter and eventually gets so hot, it melts all the walls and all the surrounding materials of the reactor and all of the nuclear rods start to evaporate and all this nuclear material is released into the environment. That's the risk of a meltdown ultimately.

This is not a nuclear bomb, just to be clear. It's just about really high temperatures, melting the facility, and then radioactive material escapes the facility. The Gen 4 reactors are designed where that isn't possible. And so one of the first, if you go to this next slide, you'll see just kind of an image here. This is the new reactor called the Pebble Bed Reactor. China started this facility.

This is not a nuclear bomb, just to be clear. It's just about really high temperatures, melting the facility, and then radioactive material escapes the facility. The Gen 4 reactors are designed where that isn't possible. And so one of the first, if you go to this next slide, you'll see just kind of an image here. This is the new reactor called the Pebble Bed Reactor. China started this facility.

I don't want to butcher the name, but I think I will. It's at the Xiadawan site in Shandong province. It's a 210 megawatt electricity production facility. They started construction in 2012. They finished and started doing operational tests in December of 22. They ran all the safety tests in the summer of 23, where they turned off the cooling and basically simulated that the system failed.

I don't want to butcher the name, but I think I will. It's at the Xiadawan site in Shandong province. It's a 210 megawatt electricity production facility. They started construction in 2012. They finished and started doing operational tests in December of 22. They ran all the safety tests in the summer of 23, where they turned off the cooling and basically simulated that the system failed.

to see if it would melt down. And that's the results that they just published, which was the test they ran last summer. And even when they turned everything off, the system did not fail. It did not have a meltdown. It maintained its ability to control its temperature and not have a meltdown.

to see if it would melt down. And that's the results that they just published, which was the test they ran last summer. And even when they turned everything off, the system did not fail. It did not have a meltdown. It maintained its ability to control its temperature and not have a meltdown.

And the way it works, as you can see here, is that these little pebbles, they're kind of like billiard ball-sized pebbles, have uranium in their core. These pebbles kind of drop into the center reactor chamber. And when the uranium is close to other uranium, a chain reaction starts to generate heat.

And the way it works, as you can see here, is that these little pebbles, they're kind of like billiard ball-sized pebbles, have uranium in their core. These pebbles kind of drop into the center reactor chamber. And when the uranium is close to other uranium, a chain reaction starts to generate heat.

That heat is actually in this reactor concept captured by helium gas that circulated inside around the reactor. That hot helium gas heats up water, turns a turbine, generates electricity. And then these billiard balls fall out the bottom. So what they did is they simulated that the system stopped circling, that the power went out and measured what happened ultimately. It was able to recover.

That heat is actually in this reactor concept captured by helium gas that circulated inside around the reactor. That hot helium gas heats up water, turns a turbine, generates electricity. And then these billiard balls fall out the bottom. So what they did is they simulated that the system stopped circling, that the power went out and measured what happened ultimately. It was able to recover.

It didn't melt down. And this is quite different, Nick, if you show an old model of an old nuclear rod system. So here's nuclear rods. They're made of uranium. They go inside these chambers that have other uranium. And when they touch each other or get close to each other, they heat up. And you have water that has to be pumped continuously to keep it cool to maintain a low temperature.

It didn't melt down. And this is quite different, Nick, if you show an old model of an old nuclear rod system. So here's nuclear rods. They're made of uranium. They go inside these chambers that have other uranium. And when they touch each other or get close to each other, they heat up. And you have water that has to be pumped continuously to keep it cool to maintain a low temperature.

What happened in Fukushima and other facilities where we've had meltdowns is that the water stopped pumping. Everything kind of evaporated away and the rods didn't get pulled. If the rods can't get pulled out and the water can't keep pumping, you have a meltdown. When things get so hot, it melts everything around it and collapses. So this Chinese site,

What happened in Fukushima and other facilities where we've had meltdowns is that the water stopped pumping. Everything kind of evaporated away and the rods didn't get pulled. If the rods can't get pulled out and the water can't keep pumping, you have a meltdown. When things get so hot, it melts everything around it and collapses. So this Chinese site,

just demonstrated this pebble bed reactor, which is a gen four reactor, and it has extraordinary safety profile. There's basically no condition where the system would have a meltdown. So these gen four reactors are smaller, they're more modular, they're much, much safer, they're more efficient, they have much less waste. You still have to store those used billiards somewhere.

just demonstrated this pebble bed reactor, which is a gen four reactor, and it has extraordinary safety profile. There's basically no condition where the system would have a meltdown. So these gen four reactors are smaller, they're more modular, they're much, much safer, they're more efficient, they have much less waste. You still have to store those used billiards somewhere.

So you still have to kind of take them and put them somewhere and keep them underground for 10,000 years. But compared with previous reactors, you know, this plant is designed to be much more efficient, much safer. And they completed the safety test. They published the results on the safety test. And I think it really shows the performance is there.