Episodes

Ed McGinnis said something in our last episode that's hard to shake: 96% of the energy in spent nuclear fuel has never been touched. The physics checks out. But what happens when countries actually try to get that energy back? This After Pop digs into the history of nuclear fuel recycling, not the theory, but the track record. France, the UK, Japan. Staggering sums of money. Complicated results. And a 1977 executive order that changed everything. We break down what PUREX actually does, why Jimmy...

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...

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 ...