Former Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dr. Katie Huff explains the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's regulatory pathways and the specific reasons behind the rejection of Oklo's license application.
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…”