What's Driving Innovation in Nuclear Energy?

KURT TERRANI: It is a gold rush right now in nuclear – all across the sector.

MONTANA WARE: Hi, I'm Montana Ware. I’m an attorney in Orrick's Technology Companies Group, and today I'm joined by Kurt Terrani, CEO of Standard Nuclear.

Kurt, what's going on right now in nuclear, in the industry generally, and what opportunities does that present for startups and for venture capital?

KURT: It's an incredible time to be in the nuclear business. Energy demand is going up. There's a need for carbon-free and truly reliable energy – a little different than what renewables are able to deliver – so nuclear looks like it's going to be a significant part of that mix in the future. Nuclear is being considered to be deployed in much smaller chunks as nuclear batteries for data centers, remote communities –lots of applications, including defense and space. I's a very, very exciting time.

MONTANA: Nice. What aspects of the nuclear supply chain are ripe for disruption right now?

KURT: It really is all of it. We've had a supply chain that's really designed and specific for the 400 or so light water reactors. Very few people want to continue building those plants.

A lot of private-sector investments and a lot of government support are going into deploying so-called advanced nuclear systems that are highly efficient and significantly safer. They're using completely different technologies and materials. So that supply chain sometimes doesn't even exist – we need to add new supply chains, we need to modify the existing supply chain.

We are in the nuclear fuel business, and we are delivering a fuel that simply wasn't commercially available before. It was being made in laboratory scale, small quantities. And now we have to build that supply chain from scratch.

MONTANA: What pinch points are you seeing in terms of talent in the nuclear industry? In other words, what skill sets do you think we need more of?

KURT: That's a really good question. People think you need PhDs to build the next generation of nuclear.

You need all the above. You need a few of those guys – but you really need a lot of engineers. You also need a lot of non-engineers. You need pipefitters, instrumentation control technicians. There's a lot of nuclear that's not nuclear. In a nuclear fuel plant, we use primarily chemical engineers and chemical technicians and materials folks, welders, pipefitters, millwrights. There's need all across the sector.

MONTANA: What can commercial or even residential consumers expect to see in the next decade or so in terms of dramatic shifts in energy? How energy is consumed and the availability of nuclear in the US and beyond?

KURT: It's extremely well understood and accepted that there's a strong correlation between the amount of energy available and quality of life and livelihood for folks. Energy demand continues to go up. Everybody knows how the data centers are all going to be consuming energy, and that demand is going to continue to grow. Electric vehicles – all those gasoline cars are being replaced with EVs – additional demand going up. Industry, defense, many, many parts of our lives are becoming more electricity dependent.

I'm a big believer of “all the above.” I think saying “only nuclear” or “only this thing” is a wrong answer. You always want to have a mix. You become more resilient, but you also have a better outcome overall.

Nuclear is going to be deployed in different ways. There's going to be a lot of behind-the-meter. Not owned and operated by utilities – it's going to be the hyperscalers. They're going to want to buy these plants, operate these plants and directly supply the electricity to their data center.

We're going to see a lot of places where there's need for industrial heat, chemical processing, manufacturing activities, forward operating bases, defense installations that are not going to spend a lot of money and risk the lives of our folks in the military to transport diesel trucks. They're going to have reliable, long-term energy deployed in those types of locations.

MONTANA: We all see exciting developments in the very near future in fission, but what can we expect to see in our lifetimes? What do you think we can expect to see in our lifetimes in terms of developments in the fusion industry?

KURT: Fusion is truly challenging. In the nuclear world, there's the jargon of “fusion time constant” – that fusion energy is always 50 years away. So, 50 years ago it was 50 years away, and now it's going to be 50 [more] years away.

But I think that's changing greatly. I can see some significant milestones.

It's transitioning from a very low technology readiness level – from a concept and idea – to now being deployed as more of an engineering task. If we can have fusion energy, we should absolutely pursue it. And it can be a game-changer for the future.

MONTANA: Are there any startup ideas that you think aren't being tackled and addressed in this industry, that you would recommend somebody smart to go start a company and start addressing?

KURT: Plenty. Nuclear industry hasn't really built plants in this country – except for a couple in Vogtle. Since the 70s, we haven't really built them. We high-five and are really proud of ourselves when we refurbish a 1960s and 1970s plant. Again, those plants are a lot of technologies that have their roots in 1940s and 50s.

Is there room for innovation? Incredible. Why is nuclear the only industry that doesn't benefit from all the other advancements that we see in computing, semiconductor, other manufacturing technology? There's a lot of opportunity there. I encourage people to look – it's going to be very easy to find a lot of good nuggets.

MONTANA: Thanks for joining, Kurt.

KURT: My pleasure.