Episodes

Imagine filling up your car at a gas station in Washington, DC, and heading toward Richmond. Twenty miles down the road, you pull over, call a tow truck, and scrap the car, with 96% of the fuel still in the tank. That's what we do with nuclear fuel in the United States right now. Ed McGinnis is the CEO of Curio and a former senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy. He's spent decades in nuclear policy and energy security, and he's now building something that could change how we think abo...

Dr. John Zino stood in front of a room of engineers, technicians, and career-changers and told them a nuclear reactor is "just boiling water." Jaws dropped. Really? That's it? Well, yes. And also, that little word "just" is hiding one of the most elegant chains in all of engineering. In this After Pop explainer, we follow a single uranium atom from the moment it splits to the moment your phone starts charging. Fission to heat. Heat to steam. Steam to a spinning shaft. Spinning shaft to electrici...

What does it actually look like to spend nearly 40 years inside the nuclear industry, from submarine shielding to the Department of Energy to the cutting edge of small modular reactor design?Dr. John Zino is a Chief Consulting Engineer at GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy and an Associate Teaching Professor at NC State University. In this episode, he breaks down the BWRX-300 — a 10th-generation boiling water reactor that strips nuclear power down to its simplest form. No massive recirculation pu...

What does it take to explain one of the most misunderstood technologies on Earth? This Final Friday on Naked Nuclear , Danielle sits down with Nick Touran for a new Follow Them Friday episode. Nick is the founder of What Is Nuclear , one of the internet’s most respected resources for understanding nuclear energy, reactor technology, fuel cycles, history, and policy in plain English. In a world drowning in hot takes and cold IQs, he built something useful. We discuss Nick’s journey into nuclear e...

At 2:13 AM in Waynesboro, Georgia, crews were already deep into a process they couldn’t stop. For 41 continuous hours, concrete flowed into the basemat of Vogtle Unit 4, the foundation that would anchor one of the newest nuclear reactors in the United States. This episode breaks down: What a nuclear basemat actually is Why concrete is part of the safety system The physics of heat, cracking, and radiation shielding The choreography required to keep a 41-hour pour alive And why this moment marks t...

I Asked If Solar Could Power California… and It Got Complicated What started as a simple question turned into a full-blown debate: If solar panels and batteries are getting so good… why does California still need nuclear energy? In this episode, we break down what actually keeps the lights on — beyond headlines, hot takes, and LinkedIn comment wars. What You’ll Learn Why “more solar” doesn’t automatically solve the problem Solar energy is powerful — but it only works when the sun is shining. Ele...

What happens when an environmentalist changes their mind about nuclear energy? In this episode of Naked Nuclear , Danielle sits down with Zion Lights, environmental advocate, award-winning science communicator, and author of Energy Is Life to unpack one of the most important (and uncomfortable) shifts happening in climate conversations today. Zion shares her journey from anti-nuclear activism to becoming one of the most prominent voices advocating for nuclear as a critical solution to climate ch...

When people talk about building nuclear power plants, the conversation usually centers on policy, engineering, and billion-dollar infrastructure. But reactors aren’t built in conference rooms. They’re built by craft workers. In this episode of Naked Nuclear , Danielle sits down with nuclear welder Tyree McCall , who started his career at Plant Vogtle Units 3 & 4 at just nineteen years old. What began as a labor job quickly turned into a mentorship-driven apprenticeship where experienced workers ...

What an EPC Actually Does: Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Explained What does it actually take to build a nuclear power plant ? In this After-Pop! episode of Naked Nuclear , Danielle breaks down one of the most important, and least explained, parts of major infrastructure projects: the EPC contractor . EPC stands for Engineering, Procurement, and Construction , and companies operating in this space are responsible for turning complex reactor designs into real, operating power plants....

Nuclear power is often described as essential for climate goals, grid reliability, and energy security. But here’s the real question: Can we actually build it safely, on time, and on budget? In this episode of Naked Nuclear, Danielle Allen sits down with Ahmet Tokpinar, Principal Vice President and General Manager of Nuclear Power at Bechtel, to unpack the boots-on-the-ground reality of building nuclear power plants in today’s world. From geotechnical investigations and contractor qualification ...

What happens when a nuclear engineering PhD student realizes that the book she needed as a child… doesn’t exist? She writes it. In this episode of Naked Nuclear , Danielle sits down with Zola Hind , Jamaican-born computer scientist turned nuclear engineering researcher at Bangor University — and author of Island Energy Superhero: A Kids’ Guide to Energies in the Caribbean. From visualizing nuclear fuel behavior using astronomy-inspired methods… to printing her book in braille for visually impair...

In this episode, Danielle talks with Uchenna Ezibe about how the American Nuclear Society is shaping the future of nuclear education—starting as early as kindergarten. They dive into ANS's hands-on programs like cloud chambers, educator training, and the new Accelerators initiative for high schoolers. Learn how early exposure to nuclear concepts can spark student curiosity, close the literacy gap, and help build the next generation of clean energy professionals. Highlights: Why nuclear literacy ...

A crossover episode with Phil Zeringue of Nuclearn exploring nuclear workforce, culture, and innovation.

What exactly is plasma, and why are some of the world's brightest minds betting on fusion energy to power our future? In this episode of Naked Nuclear, host Danielle sits down with Dr. Arturo Dominguez — Head of Science Education at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) — to break it all down in plain language. From his own journey into plasma physics to PPPL's groundbreaking research, Dr. Dominguez shares how fusion works, why it matters, and how students everywhere can get involved. W...

Inside the Z Machine: The Most Powerful Pulse on Earth Following up on the Ryan Zerpa episode, Danielle breaks down the Z Machine at Sandia National Laboratories — a device that for billionths of a second unleashes more power than every electrical grid on Earth combined. Key topics: – What the Z Machine is and why it was built – How it works: capacitor banks, pulsed power, Z-pinch implosion – 80 terawatts vs Earth's 25 terawatts – Applications: nuclear stockpile stewardship, fusion research, mat...

In this Student Spotlight, we trace how childhood curiosity—sparked by Nikola Tesla and MythBusters—led Ryan Zerpa from building a Tesla coil in grade school to pursuing fusion research. Ryan shares how he reframed a mostly-fission undergrad at Purdue Nuclear Engineering into a launchpad for fusion, what he learned working around pulsed-power experiments like Sandia's Z Machine , and how Division I swimming forged the time-management and grit research demands. We unpack his plain-language way of...

What does it mean to be the #1 nuclear engineering program in the country? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Todd Allen , department chair of the University of Michigan's Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences (NERS) program, to explore the history, mission, and future of a department that blends technical excellence with human-centered education. From submarines to art tunnels, this conversation offers a 360° look at what makes Michigan a true nuclear powerhouse. We cover: How a studen...

What is Reactor Physics? Following up on the Ikhwan Khaleb episode, Danielle breaks down reactor physics — the science of keeping chain reactions balanced, safe, and useful. From the neutron lifecycle to criticality to the tools reactor physicists actually use. Key topics: – What reactor physics actually is (popcorn analogy!) – The neutron lifecycle: birth, fast childhood, slowing down, useful work, absorption – Criticality: subcritical, critical, and supercritical – Tools of the trade: neutron ...

Ikhwan Khaleb tells the story of moving from Malaysia to study in the University of Michigan's NERS program, learning reactor physics in a second language, and turning TikTok into a platform for clear, visual nuclear education. We cover UMich coursework and labs, cultural adaptation, the grind of an international job search, and how engineering work at Holtec fuels his social media explainers. Links & Resources University of Michigan — Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences (NERS) — departm...

Breaking into the nuclear industry can feel overwhelming, from specialized certifications and security clearances to jobs that never even make it to job boards. In this episode of Naked Nuclear , Danielle shares an exciting new partnership with Nuclear Talent Scout , the premier recruiting firm focused exclusively on nuclear energy. Together, Naked Nuclear and Nuclear Talent Scout are planting the seeds for the next generation of the nuclear workforce. From free resources at nucleartalentboost.c...

What makes someone stay at the same company for decades — or even generations? In this episode of Naked Nuclear , we sit down with Bob Duffy , Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of BWX Technologies (BWXT) , to explore what's behind the company's incredibly low attrition rate, its investment in early talent, and how it's preparing for the next generation of nuclear professionals. Bob shares how BWXT is going beyond traditional hiring — building weld schools in high schools, ra...

On this episode, we dive into the power of curiosity—how simple questions can spark revolutions in science, technology, and society. Inspired by a roadside observation, we explore why cultivating curiosity is critical at every level of society, from national parks to apprenticeships, and why funding the “discovery phase” of science pays off in ways we can’t always predict. While it’s often said that monarchs avoid the Great Lakes as if skirting a long-gone mountain, this is a myth. Monarchs use ...

You don't have to be a math genius to change the world — just ask Veronica Annala. In this inspiring Student Spotlight, Danielle sits down with Veronica, a recent Texas A&M nuclear engineering graduate and founder of the Nuclear Advocacy Resource Organization (NARO). Diagnosed with dyslexia and dyscalculia, Veronica shares how she built her own study systems, cried through calculus — and still emerged as a leader in the next generation of clean energy advocacy. They unpack the birth of NARO, how...

Thanks for tuning in. In this episode, Danielle highlights four in-demand skilled trades in the nuclear energy industry that require months to years of training instead of a doctorate. For each trade, we cover: Commercial Diving Specialized HAZMAT diving in irradiated environments Historical roots, real-world challenges, and a “day in the life” Training pathways, costs, salary ranges, and union vs. non-union options Concrete Masonry Building and finishing ultra-low-permeability containment struc...