Gary O'Reilly

We probably had the last major nuclear power plant built 30-something years ago.

Yes, in the United States or around developed nations. Now you're saying, what are the new technologies, small modular reactors?

SMRs to some. Advanced reactors. So you've got these micro reactors, you've had all these different sort of acronyms going on. Where are we right now with the technologies and what are our options for fission and for fusion going forward? As you know what, you've got to have them close. The NIMBYs are going to dance up and down and scream a merry hell. We know that.

So how are we going to sort this out and with what technology?

Good.

I mean, is the goal to get even higher temperatures? I mean, are we aiming for building a star on Earth here? What are we doing?

Unlike me. He's that guy on the TV. I know who you are, but I don't know your name.

Okay, what I hear now, Neil, is this is the next iteration of the smartphone, right? So you've got these big clunky cell phones that we used to have back in the 80s.

So now they're getting smaller and smaller, but we're getting higher temperatures out of them. It sounds a lot like the smartphone scenario. And how much they cost and who's paying for it? Wait, wait, just, I think you confused two things there.

So these small modular reactors, as I said... SMR. Thank you for reminding me. How much do they actually cost and who is writing that particular check?

Exactly.

All right, so we have a football field a few meters high worth of spent nuclear fuel, right? Correct, yes. How are these new advanced modular, small modular reactors, our good friends the SMRs, Are any of them going to be able to recycle that spent fuel?

It basically comes down to not going back to relying on one single... Exactly.

We did.

Can you make little cocktails to find which ones work better with each other to be able to take that forward?

You have to make a dump run. But then you sort it out in the, yeah, make a dump. You sort it out or I have a man do that for me.

AI data centers. Well, we know what they are. What we don't quite know yet is how we are going to supply their rapidly increasing energy demands with reliable and clean energy. So where do we look? Fossil fuels are being phased out. Well, maybe. Sustainables do not suit everyone, and who needs a giant nuclear power plant in their backyard? So what are our options?

So is spent fuel then sort of turned into a ceramic and then buried deep underground? Because that's kind of the way it originates in Earth to begin with before we extract it. Do we then kind of send it back in a similar state?

Climate change means our energy must be clean, reliable, economically viable, and socially acceptable. The way I see it, this requires some clarity, some science, and an expert with both. So Neil, would you like to introduce our guests?

Who thought of that as an actual experiment to conduct? That was from Mission Impossible.

Okay, so data centers are connected, surprisingly enough, to the people behind AI, which are the tech bros. And as such, it's important for their model going forward that they have clean, reliable energy. So surely the tech bros are going to be driving this whole thing along so as nuclear energy does become the go-to source of energy for this in the future.

There's too many bad actors around for it to be unlicensed. I'm just saying, we are throwing that way into the future. So far in the future. Yeah, with Mr. Fusion, our little nuclear home friend.

I mean, how far are we actually away? These things are obviously being tested, but how far are we away from commercially being able to bring them to a situation where they go online?

You think anyone's going to stay at this party? Exactly.

All right.

You may.

Hi, Neil.

Yes.

Okay.

That sounds like a bad experience on your behalf.

Okay, we've got clean, high energy production in totality with fusion and fission, but we still have some radioactive material. That is going to make people unhappy.

You and the Nimbys, there they are. I mean, that's why they're all spelt in capitals, because they want you to know that's what it's about.

I do, and the suffering therein. though I'm not gonna place it above or beyond anyone else's suffering, but we get a chance on Special Edition just to gaze into some interesting topics.

Remind me not to live in your neighborhood ever.

Yeah, so the thing is, this stuff gets buried so far deep into the... Wait, wait, but you're mixing... In the middle of nowhere.

Okay, but fusion isn't so dirty. I understand that much.

Yeah. So the thing is, it seems like we don't quite have a handle on fusion to make it operate the way we really want to.

Okay, so what are going to be the major consumers of our energy going forward? AI data centers, for sure. Then we look at maybe quantum computing. We've got bit mining, throw in the development of electric vehicles. I mean, we may have already calculated, because I've joined the DOE, obviously, we have may have calculated already.

But have we calculated enough in terms of how exponentially this consumption is going to go?