Doug Bernauer, CEO of Radiant Nuclear, discusses company development timelines for their portable nuclear microreactor.
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bernauer: Town diesel power causes 12 premature deaths over 20 years
“And if you look at what happens in a town over 20 years of span if you pick a diesel genset instead of a reactor there's something like 12, ah, deaths that are going to occur prematurely from the use of diesel.”
Assertion Supported
Bernauer: Large reactor builds are far slower in US than Asia
“And the typical construction timeline is really like six to 15 years on the big reactors right now, depending who makes them, even for the exact same reactor, like an AP 1000, built in the US is very slow, built in Asia is very fast.”
Opinion
Bernauer: Nuclear is the only viable way to power Mars fuel production
“And so I looked into solar power on Mars and found that was really challenging, and then I looked into nuclear power on Mars and found that was the only way.”
Insight
Bernauer: Deployable and retrievable nuclear reactors require sizing around 1 MW
“It's only possible if you make a size about one megawatt, right? Make a small enough reactor, you can do this, transport it there and back again sort of trick, and take the fuel back, and so you have, like, no nuclear strings attached.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Dec 2026
Radiant will achieve reactor criticality and 700°C operations by 2026
“Since 2020, we've been on target for going there by 20, 26, and then we'll go critical. The system is designed to go to over 700 degrees Celsius, and then we'll run for 150 hours continuously.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Bernauer: Mass-produced micro-reactors will enable interstellar human travel
“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.”