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. ✦ AI generated
Speaker 2 · a16z Podcast · 2026-08-05 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 10:49
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.
verbatim transcript · starts at 10:49
10:49put the future at risk and our customers at risk in a way that is almost completely perverse to what the mission's goal is. [music] >> 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
11:14to deploy, but they just don't want to be first. And Radiant is willing to be first [music] and has the courage to take those calculated risks and then demonstrate to the world, not only the public, that's an important [music] point, that you demonstrate to the public, that this can be done and it can be done quickly. I love the idea of one nuclear [music] reactor per week just
11:33coming off of a production line. We'll be able to just plug in a nuclear power module to any of their designs and then [music] proliferate our use of power in space. Maybe make a city on the bottom of the ocean. [music] Maybe put a reactor at that high up camp on Mount Everest. Just put [music] power in places that today seem totally crazy and impossible. >> Nothing we're trying [music] to do at
11:55Radiant is considered reasonable. We're an energy company at our core. We want to change society's relationship to energy. [music] You don't do that by doing a slightly different version of something that's always been done. You have to come out with a kind of ridiculous stance and really drive in that direction to accomplish it. [music] >> Nuclear micro reactors that are mass-produced, that are reliable in the most wild scenario enables humans to