Oliver Stone announces a new documentary film on Nuclear

With an August 3rd tweet, filmmaker Oliver Stone announced the premiere of his latest documentary, Nuclear: Time to Look Again, at the Venice Film Festival on September 9th. We are looking forward to its release. Along with the promotional image shown above, Stone attached a brief written statement which reads:

I've been working on this for almost two years with the enormous help of Joshua Goldstein, coauthor of "A Bright Future." By now, I'm sure you know that this is an argument in favor of nuclear energy as the realistic solution to the gulf we now face in the production of clean energy for our continuing existtence here on the planet Earth. This is an energy that will not only save the planet but allow us to thrive upon it. And although it's long regarded in popular culture as dangerous, it is, in fact, far safer than coal, oil, and gas. The documentary, at 1-hour-45-minutes, gets into the details but it doesn't sink into all the petty arguments that the anti-nuclear crowd throws at it. Renewables like wind and solar work to a limited degree, but by now, we should know they don't come close to fixing the problem alone — — which is why the fossil fuel companies support renewables. Because they inevitably require large amounts of methane gas to ensure their reliability.

I believe this is the greatest story of our time. We must use science and our brains to overcome this ultimate challenge given to us by nature.

We'll be making the film more and more available on domestic platforms as we get closer to its release.

We will be planning events around film-screenings of #Nuclear in the coming weeks. If you are interested in attending a screening event, please sign up here and we will send you a notification.

Published by Valerie Gardner in Brilliant thinkers, Climate change, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Pro-nuclear campaign, Zero emission energy

August 1, 2022

Rod Adams featured in Nuclear News “Asks”

Rod Adams explains his historic motivations for choosing to join with Valerie Gardner to form Nucleation Capital and devote himself to the difficult and demanding task of investing in the under-appreciated and often under-funded entrepreneurs and innovators working to bring nuclear energy into the 21st Century. This page appeared in the print edition of the August Nuclear News magazine.

Published by Valerie Gardner in Advanced Nuclear, Asset manager support, Brilliant thinkers, Future of Energy, Investor activity, NEWS, Nuclear innovation, Private companies, US technological leadership, Venture capital support for nuclear, Zero emission energy

July 15, 2022

Rod Adams on Nuclear Economics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2QsN8hPHY4

Rod Adams explains why the lack of recent construction experience in the U.S. and the massive size of the Gen III nuclear power plant design, contributed to the excess costs and delays in building these types nuclear power plants. In contrast, Gen IV designs will be smaller with pre-fabricated components and allow for more rapid builds and learning through repetition.

Published by Valerie Gardner in Construction costs, Corporate purpose, Future of Energy, Investor activity, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear maritime propulsion, US competitiveness, US technological leadership

February 20, 2022

Assay TV interviews Rod Adams

The Assay is a media project of the 121 Group, based in Hong Kong, that serves investors, fund managers and analysts who are involved with and/or investing in a wide range of mining ventures. As part of their efforts to bring a greater understanding of the complex markets that control the prospects of mining ventures, The Assay TV produces a video series with CEO interviews from all over the world. On February 16, Adam Thompson hosted Rod Adams in a wide-ranging conversation about nuclear energy, uranium and the emergence of advanced nuclear designs in the coming years. This is the beginning of an exploration of the growing concerns about where and how the advanced nuclear sector will secure their projected fuel supplies and the impact of the growth of SMRs and Gen IV development on uranium miners.

You can watch this interview with Rod by clicking on the above video or on YouTube here.

Published by Valerie Gardner in Advanced Nuclear, Asset manager support, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Investor activity, NEWS, Uranium & Mining

January 17, 2022

Rod Adams Talks with Isaac Orr of Nuclear Barbarians

Rod Adams, managing partner of Nucleation Capital, speaks with Isaac Orr, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment and founder of Nuclear Barbarians. Isaac and Rod's conversation features a fascinating discussion with Rod Adams, who explains the origins of his interest in nuclear energy as a young naval recruit. The podcast details the rise and fall of nuclear power as a means of generating civilian power and gives us all some insight into what may be next for this energy source.

Please click the above video to enjoy the show or click here to go directly the Nuclear Barbarians site.

Published by Valerie Gardner in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Energy abundance, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Nucleation communications, US competitiveness

January 27, 2021

Rod Adams Talks with Chris Keefer of the Decouple podcast

Rod Adams, managing partner of Nucleation Capital, speaks with Chris Keefer, an emergency physician, medical instructor, nuclear energy activist, and the host of Decouple. Chris and Rod focus on the health impacts of nuclear energy, in particular radiation dosage and the impacts of the application of the Linear Non-Threshold theory (LNT), which effectively deems any amount of radiation to add health risk. Please click the above podcast link to listen to "Means, Motive, Opportunity: Fossil Fueled Radiophobia feat," or head over to Anchor at Spotify to download and subscribe to the Decouple podcast.

Published by Valerie Gardner in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Energy abundance, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear maritime propulsion, Nuclear R&D, Nucleation communications, Radiation & LNT Rules

January 23, 2020

Christine King named Director of Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear

Christine King, an integral member of the Nucleation Capital fund development team, was selected to serve as the director of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative, effective February 17, 2020. As director, Ms. King will lead efforts on behalf of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy to provide the nuclear community with access to the technical, regulatory and financial support necessary to move innovative nuclear energy technologies toward commercialization. We will miss her but we congratulate Christine and wish her extremely well in her exciting new role.

The Nucleation Capital fund development team was organized and launched by Valerie Gardner in early 2018 as an initiative of Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC, a Menlo Park-based investment advisory group, after identifying the growth prospects for private ventures developing advanced nuclear technologies. Valerie first connected with Rod Adams, founder of Atomic Insights, in March of 2018 after he published a blog post titled "Advanced nuclear energy systems are ready for investors who seek ground floor opportunities," in late February, 2018. Valerie and Rod's first legendary conversation lasted almost four hours. They agreed to work together and set about methodically growing the team and assessing structural options for "developing mechanisms for investors with moderate resources and long time horizons to focus part of their portfolio in this potentially high payoff field."

The group, initially operating in stealth as the Einstein Energy Fund, grew to include Valerie Gardner, Rod Adams, Dr. Leslie Dewan, Rick DeGolia, Christine King, William Lewis, Carl Page and Dr. Jonathan Tiemann. They recognized that there was a gap in the availability of funds investing in next-generation nuclear power and other critical climate solutions including carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) but a surplus of funds investing in wind, solar, geothermal, energy efficiency and other types of "renewable energy." In early 2019, the team renamed itself Nucleation Capital and began outreach on its pronuclear thesis to institutional LPs. Unfortunately, while there were a handful of foundations and endowments intrigued enough to meet, there were no institutions willing to anchor the fund. By the end of 2019, the team had not found a pathway for launching a viable fund and things slowly began to deconstruct.

First, Christine King accepted her position with the DOE at GAIN. Soon after, Covid-19 hit and Bill Lewis opted to devote his time to addressing Covid and saving lives. Soon after, Rick DeGolia, who had been elected mayor, became too busy to meet. The team was forced to minimize in-person meetings and progress quickly stalled, as Dr. Dewan and Carl Page opted to prioritize other commitments. For most of 2020, it appeared that there was no viable structure for raising capital to deploy into advanced nuclear, as the only investor interest was coming from accredited investors, rather than institutions. It wasn't until the 4th quarter of 2020, that Rod and Valerie discovered the Angellist rolling fund structure, which enabled them to raise smaller dollar amounts from greater numbers of accredited investors cost-effectively, and invest what they raised each quarter. They signed an LOI to float their fund on the Angellist platform and began raising capital. Nucleation Capital closed its first investment into Core Power in Q3-2021. The fund has continued to raise and deploy capital each quarter since.

Read more in the INL Press Release: "Christine King named director of Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear."

Published by Valerie Gardner in Future of Energy, Government support, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D

October 3, 2019

Rod Adams Talks with Bret Kugelmass of Energy Impact Center

Rod Adams, managing partner of Nucleation Capital, speaks with Bret Kugelmass, founder of Titans for Nuclear and the Energy Impact Center on the 208th episode of the Titans of Nuclear podcast. Bret and Rod have a far-ranging conversation that covers Rod's childhood interest in nuclear energy (1.55 mins); Rod's experiences in the Navy, living next to a nuclear reactor (9:02 mins) and Rod's early endeavor to launch an advanced nuclear venture called Adam's Atomic Engines (33:45 mins). Please click the above video to enjoy the show.

Published by Valerie Gardner in NEWS

February 27, 2018

Advanced nuclear energy primed for private investment

Rod Adams' Atomic Insights blog published a piece in 2018 that asked an important question: “How do we match the ingenuity and enthusiasm of atomic innovators with the large magnitude financing sources needed to advance the field so it can become a major success story?”

This post reflected Mr. Adams' ruminations following the conclusion of the 5th annual Advanced Reactor Technical Summit, hosted by the Nuclear Infrastructure Council. It seemed that difficulty obtaining financing had been identified as a hindrance to those groups working to develop new nuclear technologies, causing some aspiring entrants to slow down efforts and others to drop out entirely.

Although there were no clear successes yet, the field nontheless was maturing and Mr. Adams opined that it was "ripe for investors willing to side-step conventional wisdom so that they can be in at the ground floor." Taking the metaphor even further, Adams wrote, "In my opinion, the foundation and basement level investors have completed enough of their tasks to declare that the remainder of the structure is ready for construction."

Recognizing that investing in nuclear remained too risky for "widows, orphans or near term retirement funds," there were some "Impressive opportunities available for those with a greater appetite for risk or who understand the importance of long term, patient investing."

On the plus side, the addressable energy markets where advanced nuclear could sell into are enormous, leaving plenty of opportunity for numerous contenders within a universe of potential suppliers of new technologies that was limited in size.

On the other hand, a problem was seen in the fact that virtually all of the then participating companies were either small, not-yet-public start-ups only accessible to investors of a certain sophistication or wealth, or they were very large public companies with just modest levels of involvement in advanced nuclear compared to their overall size.

These two features made it "difficult for people with modest resources but significant professional understanding of the opportunities to make strategic, long term, focused investments in the field."

At the end of this article, Mr. Adams exhorted anyone in his audience to reach out to him "with thoughts about developing mechanisms for investors with moderate resources and long time horizons to focus part of the portfolio in this potentially high payoff field." This is what initially motivated Valerie to reach out in the spring of 2018 to discuss her thoughts about launching a fund to invest in advanced nuclear.

Read Rod Adams' Advanced nuclear energy systems are ready for investors who seek ground floor opportunities, the 2018 Atomic Insights post that caused Valerie to reach out to Rod and inspired the formation of Nucleation Capital.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Capital reallocation, Climate innovation fund, Future of Energy, LINKS, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Venture capital support for nuclear

January 1, 1995

The First Atomic Age: A Failure of Socialism, by Rod Adams

This article was written in 1995 by Rod Adams, now a Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, who, at the time was the founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., having just completed twelve years of service in the Navy’s Nuclear Power Program, with much of that time, living within a few feet of a nuclear power reactor. Adams Atomic Engines was possibly the first advanced nuclear venture ever formed with the aim of enabling the broader use of nuclear power across more industry sectors. Unfortunately for everyone, Adams Atomic Engines did not survive the Navy's recall of Mr. Adams to naval service, but this early experience cemented his belief that only competitive markets could enable the kind of technological refinement and problem-solving thinking that has allowed men like Edison, Bell, Ford, and Gates to produce revolutionary products.

The first Atomic Age began with high hopes, but it has languished, being replaced in succession by the Space Age, the Computer Age, and the Information Age. Atomic planes, trains, and remote power stations discussed by 1940s visionaries were never built. Atomic powered ships, able to operate for years without refilling their fuel supply have seen limited civilian and military application. Most are now museums or being laid up as anachronisms. Nuclear submarines, powered by compact engines able to push their massive bulk at high speeds for years without any atmospheric intake or exhaust are widely thought to be expensive Cold War relics with no real mission or lesson to offer.

Was it all hype? Were Dwight Eisenhower, Al Gore, Sr., Isaac Asimov, Alvin Weinberg, Leo Szilard, Enrico Fermi, Lewis Strauss, and H.G. Wells all wrong in their predictions for a new source of abundant energy? If not, how did the present stagnation in the industry happen?

First the facts. Uranium is abundant. One indication of the enormity of the resource is that the United States has an existing stockpile of enriched uranium large enough to fuel over 1000 Trident class submarines for fifteen years. Another indication is that the price of natural uranium has fallen so low that domestic mining companies are crying for protection from foreign “dumping.”

Uranium, thorium, and plutonium are concentrated energy sources. One pound of any of them contains as much potential energy as 2,000,000 pounds of oil or 2,600,000 pounds of high grade coal.

Uranium, thorium, and plutonium have all been used as fuel in fission reactors. Fission waste products weigh less than the initial metal used for fuel and are compact enough to be completely retained within the reactor core. Each year, we produce approximately 4,000 tons of spent fuel from all 108 nuclear electric plants in the U.S. while a single 1,000 megawatt electric (MWe) coal station produces that much ash every day.

A 1,000 MWe nuclear power plant uses about seven pounds of fuel each day and produces no carbon dioxide. A 1,000 MWe coal plant burns 11,000 tons of coal and produces 42,000 tons of waste gas every day.

Please click here to continue reading "The First Atomic Age: A Failure of Socialism" preserved at The Foundation for Economic Education.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Brilliant thinkers, Corporate purpose, Future of Energy, Government support, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, US technological leadership