Assertion Supported
NRC rejected Oklo's application over safety and accident information gaps
“So, the thing that NRC denied for Oklo was that they submitted a combined license application, so this is for that parallel step where you don't do a separate design certification, you sort of submit a combined operating license and construction permit applica…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Most nuclear developers will miss DOE's July 2026 criticality milestone
“I don't think a lot of reactors really are on pace for that July fourth milestone because it's an extremely aggressive milestone, and I think it's a little unfair to the nuclear industry actually to sort of set these very aggressive milestones when the reality…”
Insight
Microreactors make zero economic sense without scaled factory manufacturing
“Microreactors in particular do not make sense economically until you're building them in a factory with a plan for shipping those reactors fueled and receiving those reactors, defueling them, those sorts of things.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Dec 2032
First advanced nuclear reactor will supply US grid power by 2032
“I'm pretty bad at making predictions, but I would be surprised if by 20 32 we haven't seen Real new advanced reactor electrons on the grid. There may not be many, and it'll probably be just one reactor but it'll shortly thereafter be followed by, you know, a s…”
Assertion Supported
Huff: NRC faces a February 23rd deadline on radiation dose rulemaking
“Just a month from now, February 23rd, they'll have to release rule, like, guidance rulemaking on how they have either changed or not changed those dose rates without any real new data, just because the administration has declared that they ought to.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Huff: X-Energy and Kairos reactor licenses are advancing rapidly at NRC
“Certain applications are going really well and quickly with decisions kind of moving rapidly. The ones that were already in progress, like X-Energy's reactor and Kairos' reactor and stuff, have had some nice announcements recently associated with their, you kn…”
Assertion Supported
Valor Atomics' Los Alamos criticality achievement was merely a zero-power test
“For example, Valor Atomics announced that they had reached criticality at Los Alamos, but, you know, it's an experiment that Los Alamos already had running. It is with a fuel similar to Valor Atomics fuel, but it was a zero power criticality test, so it's basi…”
Insight
Huff: NEPA environmental reviews can rival reactor safety reviews in duration
“Actually, what we have seen, and there is some interesting statistics on, is the amount of environmental review time that also happens in parallel, because in terms of that site application, you are sort of really highly Focused on NEPA, and so the environment…”
Assertion Supported
Huff: NRC staffing has declined under the current administration
“Furthermore, they have fewer staff than they did before this administration began, and so the staffing issue certainly is one to keep in mind.”
Assertion Supported
Huff: No advanced reactor developers are using NRC Part 53 yet
“There's now one called part 53 that's for advanced reactors, but no one's really using it yet.”
Assertion Partly supported
Huff: Research reactors historically take roughly two years from concrete to criticality
“In fact, in the history of building research reactors, the kind of median time for how long it takes from pouring concrete to getting to that hot, hot, full power criticality is much longer. It's two years or so, right? And there's a nice report out of Oak Rid…”
Assertion Supported
Huff: Decades-old early site permits still lack nuclear reactors
“There are many early site permits that have been supported that still don't have a reactor built on them that were sort of decades old.”
Assertion Supported
Huff: Reactor applicants must include on-site spent fuel plans for NRC approval
“All of that is to say that at the moment, companies do need to include some plan for how they're going to manage in the interim their spent nuclear fuel on site until the federal government takes ownership of it, and so that has to be a part of their applicati…”
