Julia DeWahl, co-founder of micro-reactor startup Antares, discusses whether online criticism of Nuclear Regulatory Commission bureaucracy is still accurate.
Insight
DeWahl: Nuclear power must target premium buyers like the military and hyperscalers
“And so we believe, I believe that, you know, premium power is where you need to go with nuclear, and there's sort of like two, there's two places for that. One is what we're doing with Antares, which is go to the military, help them with mission critical need …”
Assertion Supported
DeWahl: 100% 24/7 solar and battery storage costs rival nuclear
“Actually to get true hundred percent, 24 seven coverage, the battery or the excess build out is massive. It is really expensive. It's on, it's like basically on par with nuclear costs.”
Disclosure
DeWahl: Antares is not using DARPA because micro-reactors lack fundamental technical novelty
“We are not working with DARPA mostly because it's actually not as technically risky as you might even think, like even. ... Like we actually, in a funny way, like it's not even really a tech problem. ... You know, I mean, it's hard to build these things, but i…”
Opinion
DeWahl: Three Mile Island accident was completely overblown
“Well, it was an accident, but it was not really a big deal. Like, this much radiation came out, it was like this amount of a chest x-ray. Yes, completely overblown.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DeWahl: Path for US nuclear reactor builds is clearer than ever
“There's just, like, so much happening where they're opening up federal land they're removing, starting to remove some of those, like, NEPA-type regulations that really just hold everything up so there is a clearer path now than there really ever has been for r…”
Assertion Supported
DeWahl: NRC rules now mandate licensing decisions within 18 months
“Right now, there's they've changed it to, you have 18 months to get your answer from the NRC. License or no license, like, do, do you pass or not?”