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Video · 2026-08-05 · 13m · 6 moments

The Nuclear Renaissance - Radiant |  a16z American Dynamism

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01
Context◆

The US regulated nuclear out of business by making it too expensive through continuous regulatory ratcheting, driven in part by environmental advocacy groups that pushed misinformation on the public.

The US lost its ability to innovate on nuclear power due to a combination of regulatory accumulation and anti-nuclear misinformation from environmental groups, which collectively made nuclear uneconomical.

transcript

Speaker 1: Nuclear really got sidelined by the environmental advocacy groups that pushed misinformation on the general public. We just continue to ratchet up regulations for a variety of reasons including some of the public perceptions around nuclear is my opinion that we regulated nuclear out of business because we made it too expensive.

02
Fact

The US energy grid is aging (built mostly in the 60s and 70s), runs at only the median of power needed, and frequently dips below what is required — which constrains innovation, prosperity, and national security.

The current US grid was built in the mid-20th century, already failing 45% of Americans with annual outages, and barely meets median demand — leaving no surplus for growth or innovation.

transcript

Speaker 2: The current state of the energy grid is not great and it doesn't say hey America's ready to build. We need energy for everything. And the grid we're building on right now is mostly created in the 60s and 70s. Technology has changed a lot. Society has changed a lot. And it's starting to show that what we're building on is aging. About 45% of Americans have experienced one outage in the last year. For a business, that can be catastrophic. It's a really important thing for folks to grasp that when you turn the lights on, it's from the 60s. We kind of run just at the median of the power we need. And on some days in many states, we actually dip below what we need from an energy perspective to really innovate. To unlock prosperity, we have to get above the line of what we need. We have to give ourselves room to do all of those. And that from a national security perspective is what will allow the US to be the US we all grew up dreaming about.

03
Mechanism◆

Nuclear microreactors can be factory-built, transportable by land/air/sea, operated for 5 years without refueling, taken back by the manufacturer, and daisy-chained — solving the cost and waste problems that made traditional nuclear uneconomical.

Radiant's Kidos reactor is designed as a 1 MW transportable microreactor — roughly the size of a diesel generator but delivering 5 years of power without refueling, and removable with no waste left on site — which unlocks use cases that large-scale nuclear cannot serve.

transcript

Speaker 1: When Doug was designing the product, he said, 'Well, all of these things must be true, and therefore I have to make a product that is above ground, that is movable to where customers need it, and then also that they don't have to deal with waste on site.' And so, you got Kidos. It's a transportable by land, air, and sea micro reactor. After a customer has used it, we take it back to our factory site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and refuel it. We handle all of the parts of the nuclear industry that customers didn't want. I always tell people when I talk about the Kidos reactor to think of a diesel generator. Anywhere you'd see a diesel generator, you could bring in a Kidos reactor. They're roughly the same size except you don't have to refill it every 8 hours. It gives you power for 5 years and it provides much more power, many, many times more power than a diesel generator. And you can daisy chain them together. So you can bring in four Kidos reactors and power a small city. You could power a very large data center. You have all kinds of capabilities that come around from something that really can be put on the back of an 18-wheeler. That kind of power generation and making it transportable has never existed before.

04
Example

Radiant is testing its prototype at the historic Dome facility at Idaho National Laboratory — the first full-power test at the lab in decades — and was selected through a competitive process based on technology maturity and planning.

Radiant secured a competitive selection to test its commercial prototype at INL's historic Dome facility (built in the 1950s), which was originally slated for demolition. The test involves running the reactor at over 700°C for 150 continuous hours, marking the first full-power test at the lab in a very long time.

transcript

Speaker 1: We're taking this unit to the Dome which is this 80 foot diameter structure that was built in the 50s. It actually had the experimental breeder reactor in it at Idaho National Laboratory. Since 2020, we've been on target for going there by 2026 and then we'll go critical. The system is designed to go to over 700°C and then we'll run for 150 hours continuously. That dome was going to be torn down and ultimately was repurposed for this purpose that now enables Radiant to be the first company that comes in that was selected through a competitive process. Radiant was selected. Simplistically speaking, the maturity of their technology, the maturity of their planning, the benefits of that test are going to be in terms of a full power test over a significant period of time, which will be our first full power test at the laboratory in a very, very long time.

05
Prediction

Radiant is willing to be first to deploy a commercial microreactor, and by demonstrating it can be done quickly and safely, will prove to the world and the public that a nuclear renaissance is real.

The speaker, who has spent their entire career in nuclear, believes the industry is in a full renaissance — but most companies are waiting for someone else to go first. Radiant is accepting the calculated risk of being first to demonstrate that new nuclear can be deployed quickly and safely.

transcript

Speaker 2: What's happening in nuclear right now is unbelievable for somebody like me who has spent my entire career in nuclear. I believe we're in a full-on renaissance. The world is watching, but the world is waiting. And there are many companies that want to deploy, but they just don't want to be first. And Radiant is willing to be first and has the courage to take those calculated risks and then demonstrate to the world, not only the public, that's an important point, that you demonstrate to the public, that this can be done and it can be done quickly.

06
Prediction◆

Mass-produced nuclear microreactors that are reliable in the most extreme environments will ultimately enable humans to leave the solar system and colonize other stars — and that is imperative for civilization.

The founder connects the company's mission to a civilizational imperative: microreactors built at scale, reliable in the wildest conditions, give humanity the power density needed to leave the sun and reach other stars.

transcript

Speaker 1: Nuclear micro reactors that are mass-produced, that are reliable in the most wild scenario enables humans to leave the star that we were born at, the sun, and go to other ones. And it's imperative that we do it as a civilization.

Highlight slides
Regulation Priced Nuclear Out of Business✦ from: The US regulated nuclear out of business by making it too expensive through continuous regulatory ratcheting, driven in part by environmental advocacy groups that pushed misinformation on the public.Nuclear Without the Waste: Refuel at the Factory✦ from: Nuclear microreactors can be factory-built, transportable by land/air/sea, operated for 5 years without refueling, taken back by the manufacturer, and daisy-chained — solving the cost and waste problems that made traditional nuclear uneconomical.Diesel-Generator Size, 5 Years of Power✦ from: Nuclear microreactors can be factory-built, transportable by land/air/sea, operated for 5 years without refueling, taken back by the manufacturer, and daisy-chained — solving the cost and waste problems that made traditional nuclear uneconomical.Nuclear Microreactors as the Key to Leaving the Solar System✦ from: Mass-produced nuclear microreactors that are reliable in the most extreme environments will ultimately enable humans to leave the solar system and colonize other stars — and that is imperative for civilization.
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