Is the NRC hostile towards innovators?

Robert Bryce writing in Forbes, raises the question . . . though in not so many words. Comparing the NRC's treatment of Oklo to the galloping progress that the Chinese are making with their own industry to build new advanced designs, Bryce suggests that it is the NRC's rather hostile attitude towards our advanced nuclear innovators that is holding back American competitiveness in the design and commercialization of Advanced Reactors.

Proof, he suggests, came in early January when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected Oklo Power LLC’s application to build and operate a 1.5-megawatt fast reactor in Idaho. It wasn't exactly the decision to reject the application so much as the rather abrupt and even hostile tactic the agency used, which was not to communicate with the company but to publish the dismissal without indicating its intention to the company. This display of disfunctional behavior is clearly why, as Bryce claims,

"China is beating the pants off the United States in the race to deploy next-generation nuclear reactors. Wait. That's not quite true. To have a race, the competitors have to be assembled at a starting line. The hard truth for the U.S. nuclear sector is that bureaucratic inertia is preventing it from even approaching the starting line."

Bryce cites Nucleation Managing Partner, Rod Adams, in explaining that the NRC had accepted Oklo's 600 page application back in June of 2020. They were well aware, when they did that, that Oklo's application was not like traditional or even modular lightwater applications, which had most recently clocked in at over 12,000 pages. Then, the NRC proceeds to work through the application with Oklo for 22 months, billing the company at a high hourly rate for that work, and routinely asking for additional items. At that point, they suddenly switch course and, out of the blue, feel the need to pronounce "Oh, hell, you're missing stuff that we want to see, so we're just done and denying this application."

I'm sorry, that's just the wrong on so many levels. That is not the way to work productively with a group that you also make clear, you expect to work together with again. Wow, it is difficult not to believe that there is much more going on within the NRC that is broadly disfunctional when they treat a group like Oklo that way. Not to mention that they obviously have no understanding of the way that private ventures and their investors work.

More importantly, the NRC's action evidences the fact that they utterly fail to recognize that climate change is operating at a scale of threat to humanity that is several magnitudes worse than any possible risk from Oklo's 1.5 MW design. The whole world need more clean energy solutions, with next-gen nuclear being the one with the best chances of scaling up in time. The NRC does not seem to realize at all that If American developers cannot get their designs licensed, the 150 or so nations seeking to increase the access to nuclear power will purchase designs offered them by Russia or China.

One can only hope that the Biden Adminstration, which has placed Advanced Nuclear on its Critical and Emerging Technologies List, takes these legacy NRC blinder issues under advisement when it selects new commissioners or nations that are more or less hostile towards American interests, will eat our lunch.

Read Bryce's piece in Forbes, NRC's Rejection of Oklo Application Shows US is Miles Behind China in Advanced Nuclear Reactors, by Robert Bryce, published Jan. 31, 2022.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Future of Energy, Government support, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Regulatory reform, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership

December 12, 2021

Advanced Nuclear Firsts

Oklo is very well-known within the Advanced Nuclear world as one of the leading ventures among those developing 4th Generation reactors. Oklo made history in 2020 with their submission and the NRCs acceptance of their combined license application for the stunning Aurora powerhouse design. Oklo was approved for a site use permit at the Idaho National Laboratory to build their first unit. They made further history when they secured approval to use nuclear waste as fuel from the DOE.

Meanwhile, Oklo has seen its profile raised, and that of its founders, Jake DeWitte and Caroline Cochran, two brilliant and charismatic young leaders, who have shaken things up in the industry by doing hard things not just in a smarter way and also in a bold way, revealing both keen business accumen but also a fresh new face for nuclear energy. (Full disclosure: both Rod and Valerie met Jake and Caroline many years ago, have followed their progress and remain connected, as Jake serves as an advisor to Nucleation Capital.)

Since Oklo succeeded in raising its seed round through Y Combinator and then a Series A from a group of venture investors, we have watched them develop along the pathway followed by most all of Silicon Valley's rising tech ventures. We've been duly impressed with their vision, the inspiring design of the Aurora powerhouse, their commitment to diversity and inclusion, as well as the playful and stylish brand that they've built for Oklo. Importantly, they keep showing up and sharing their time and energy with the broader climate and energy communities.

If you've been paying any attention at all, you are likely to have heard Caroline and/or Jake speak and present at a wide array of events, Clubhouse chats, Facebook events, TED talks, or speaking on CNBC or at nuclear industry events about their aspirations and the future of nuclear. They have worked hard to set the stage for the public to know about Oklo, be inspired by their vision, recognize how nuclear fits into a clean energy future and even follow their expert work defining new protocols for the NRC to build a foundation for Gen IV nuclear's success.

In this way, Oklo is redefining nuclear and is, itself, a “first of a kind” (FOAK) advanced nuclear venture that is on a trajectory to change the face of energy. Even before their first-of-a-kind 4th Gen application to the NRC gets approved—which could be as early as 2023—Oklo has broken barriers, set a high bar, and changed the face of the nuclear industry. Oklo's spare team has fulfilled many of the necessary steps towards the achievement of its ambitious plans, and, in the process, has attracted serious venture capital interest.

All of which has confirmed our excitement about investing in advanced nuclear ventures and the sector more broadly. If you are an accredited investor (an SEC requirement), you may express your interest in learning more by completing this form and we’ll send you more information.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Brilliant thinkers, Investor activity, LINKS

August 5, 2021

Bitcoin partners with nuclear for clean power

Bitcoin, which already uses more energy than all of Argentina and which has been found by researchers to cause $.49 in environmental and health impacts for every $1.00 in mined value, is starting to figure out how to clean up their act. Several different mining operations are looking to partner with existing and newer sources of highly reliable nuclear power to ensure that mining operations don't have such a detrimental impact on the environment and human health.

TeraWulf, a bitcoin miner, is looking to partner with Talen Energy through a joint venture to secure as much as 300 MW of zero-carbon power from Talen's Susquehanna nuclear power station in Pennsylvania to use for bitcoin mining capacity. The current plan is for TeraWulf to site the Nautilus Cryptomine facility, a 180-MW bitcoin mining plant, next to Talen's two-unit Susquehanna nuclear station and to power it via a direct interconnection to Susquehanna that provides low-cost, reliable, zero-carbon electricity “behind the meter.” Such an arrangement will provide Nautilus Cryptomine with one of the lowest electricity costs among publicly traded bitcoin mining peers in the US.

Also, Ohio-based nuclear operator Energy Harbor signed a five-year partnership with Standard Power to provide electricity from its nuclear fleet to Standard Power’s new bitcoin blockchain mining centre in Coshocton, Ohio beginning in December 2021.

Finally, Silicon Valley nuclear startup Oklo announced recently it had signed a 20-year commercial partnership with Compass Mining to power bitcoin mining with advanced nuclear plants. Terms were not disclosed.

Read more at NucNet "Bitcoin / Joint Venture Will See US ‘Mining’ Facility Powered By Nuclear ," published August 5, 2021.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Corporate decarbonization, LINKS, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

July 29, 2021

Will Nuclear finally be “in the Green” with Bitcoin?

Nuclear's detractors like to argue that nuclear's 100% carbon-free energy is not clean and so cannot be accepted as a "renewable" energy source since its fuel requires the mining of uranium (never mind the fact that they count biomass, biowaste and biofuels as "renewable" energy even though these technologies emit as much CO2 as fossil fuels do). They also complain that nuclear is too expensive and takes too long to build.

Then along comes Oklo, which is designing and will soon be building the advance reactor design, the 1.5 MW Aurora, that is expected to be built in under two years for $10 million and which will burn what is currently considered nuclear waste as fuel. News like this doesn't seem to cause a lot of nuclear's perennial "anti" campaigners to change their minds but it is causing members of the highly independent-minded Bitcoin community, who are uni-focused on finding clean sources of distributed cheap energy to power mining servers, to sign contracts.

This is a remarkable pairing the implications of which can have far-reaching impacts for the emerging advanced nuclear industry. First, because bitcoin miners check boxes rather than ideologies, nuclear is readily seen as it should be: a green energy source. Second, because bitcoin mining is a money-printing enterprise, demand for nuclear power will fill advanced nuclear's PPA dance cards, and help the technology pass through the valley of death and begin to earn revenue that for some, may point the way to future operating profitability. Both of these indicators help increase investor interest in the advanced nuclear sector overall, which will facilitate the ability of these ventures to meet their development goals.

For way too long, the nuclear industry and its aged hippy anti-war, anti-nuke detractors have been battling Baby Boomers who long ago agreed to stop listening and just forever disagree. At last, a new generation of entrepreneur "solutionists" are now focused on solving the problems that their parents gave up solving: namely distributed 100% clean energy grids and decentralized finance. They appear to have found each other. It is refreshing to read about this new technological bromance from David de Caires Watson, an author that speaks the same generational language.

Read The Kernel's How to Turn Nuclear Reactors Into Clean, Green, Money-Printing Machines: And how a new generation of 'solutionists' are making sci fi cool again, by David de Caires Watson, July 29, 2021.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Bitcoin, Future of Energy, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Private companies, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

June 28, 2021

Advanced nuclear makes primetime with Oklo on CNBC

Oklo is designing an advanced form of nuclear power generator called a fast reactor which is expected to be more efficient than traditional nuclear, allowing it to get energy out of already "spent" fissile fuel, which we now consider "waste."

Fast reactors are also more efficient with the fuel they do use and, by using "fast" neutrons, they are able to use the waste from conventional nuclear reactors making them many times more efficient, because they can unlock the 95% of fissile energy that remains in the fuel after a traditional reactor can no longer use it.

While fast reactor technology has been around since the 1950s, there are only about 20 fast neutron reactors operating, with Russia the current leading developer of fast reactor technology. Oklo is looking to change that and make building and operating a fast reactor much more cost-effective. Back in February of 2020, the Idaho National Laboratory announced it was going to give Oklo access to nuclear waste so it can develop and demonstrate its fast reactor technology, it means that this material, which was previously destined for disposal, will be used to produce energy."

While this article by CNBC mostly reports on information that was older news, it does include the recent announcement by the DOE that Oklo was awarded a cost-share grant to work with the INL to commercialize electrorefining technology for reprocessing used nuclear fuel—in order to recycle it for use in advanced reactors. Additionally, the reporting by CNBC on Oklo and advanced nuclear in itself is also a type of news, as this may be the first time that CNBC has reported on advanced nuclear.

Read the article at CNBC "Oklo has a plan to make tiny nuclear reactors that run off nuclear waste," by Catherine Clifford, published June 28, 2021.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Distributed grids, Fail-safe fuels, Future of Energy, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

July 9, 2020

Oil and gas investments reach their “sell by” date

Ray Rothrock, famed Venrock VC who has made multiple investments in advanced nuclear, together with Ellen Hughes-Cromwick and Farah Benahmed, discuss the critical role that professional venture capital (VC) has long played in accelerating innovation. While the nature of VC has changed over time, the goal of providing precious capital to great entrepreneurs with world-changing ideas for solutions against big problems, remains the same. But now, rather than a handful of rich families, there are over 1,000 VC firms deploying about $100 billion a year to ventures of all kinds.

The record of success by VC is borne out by research which shows that 43% of today’s public companies were venture-backed, representing 57% of the public market capitalization, 38% of all employees at public companies and 82% of all the corporate R&D.

As fossil fuels fail and investors look ahead to the next phase of energy, many investors and VCs are once again looking to innovators and understanding both the threats and risks but also the opportunities that will come with a clean energy transition. While encouraging, we need to accelerate the pace by which clean energy innovators get capital and figure out the ways to unleash a wave of capital toward clean energy.

Read more in Third Way: "Innovation Sparks Advances Toward a Clean Energy Future"

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Asset manager support, Brilliant thinkers, Capital reallocation, Fossil fuels, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Venture capital support for nuclear

June 15, 2020

Advanced nuclear history is made by Oklo

Oklo's combined license application, the first ever (non-light water) advanced fission technology, was accepted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The application was submitted to the NRC in March and its historic acceptance augurs a whole new era in the commercialization of carbon-free advanced fission technologies.

Oklo’s CEO and co-founder, Jacob DeWitte, said the acceptance indicates that the NRC is prepared to license advanced fission technologies like Oklo's, which has been named Aurora. The Aurora powerhouse utilizes advanced fission to generate 1.5 megawatts of clean power.

“Advanced reactors are an important tool for climate change, and we are proud to be the first to submit a full license application and the first to have it accepted,” said DeWitte. “As a start-up, Oklo is persistently driving innovation by doing things differently. We are setting a different paradigm by challenging the current system, while getting feedback, iterating, and ultimately getting approval on things that traditionally have not been done before.”

“Advanced fission is a real solution to meeting increasing energy demands while alleviating climate change,” said Oklo’s Director of Licensing, Alex Renner. “We trust that the NRC can successfully license an inherently safe reactor that is capable of protecting our health and the environment,” added Renner.

Oklo is the first company to submit a combined license application of any type since 2009 per the NRC website and the modernized application structure that the company pioneered will serve as a accelerating precedent for future advanced fission license submittals.

Read more about this announcement at Business Wire's "Oklo Announces Historic Acceptance of Combined License Application." Read through the Combined License Documents for Aurora — the Oklo Power Plant Application documents submitted by Oklo to the NRC at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission website.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Future of Energy, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, US competitiveness, US technological leadership

May 27, 2020

Sustainable Nuclear Energy’s Future

In this Goldman Sachs podcast, Heath Terry dives into sustainable energy and argues that advanced atomic power will become the most important investment class over the next decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=sH0z1UBSt3M&app=desktop

Published by Nucleation Capital in Climate change, Future of Energy, LINKS, Nuclear innovation