Ep. 35: Bret Kugelmass on Nuclear Power, Human Overreaction & Regulatory Capture and How A Nuclear Revival Can Launch Humanity to an Age of Superabundance

Bret is an entrepreneur on a big mission as the CEO of Last Energy, a vertically integrated nuclear-powered electricity provider.

Bret aims to create energy superabundance, fix climate change and elevate human potential to unimaginable heights and sees nuclear as the solution.

Few if any people in the world have talked to more experts. Bret hosts the "Titans of Nuclear" Podcast, which has a whopping 380 episodes!

Bret and Niklas talk about why nuclear has become such a stagnant industry.

The history of the industry is, surprisingly, not one mainly driven by fear or public perception. Bret uncovered that the problems of the industry started before Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island were catalyzing fear.

Instead, it was utility regulation in the US that incentivized the industry to build bigger and bigger nuclear power plants.

The industry itself was selling the argument that nuclear power is dangerous and needs massive amounts of safety, and regulation needs to ensure that.

The process known as "regulatory capture" is responsible for nuclear stagnation.

Bret systematically debunks misconceptions about nuclear: meltdowns and nuclear radiation are not dangerous at all. Uranium is not a scarce resource - in fact it could power the planet for up to a billion years.

However, nuclear energy does have a cost problem. The cost problem is the result of industry stagnation and overregulation, and it needs to be solved.

With Last Energy, Bret is super-modularising and vertically integrating the value-creation process. It's not a technical innovation, but a business model innovation: Last energy takes responsibility for all aspects of project development, from conceptual design through operation and maintenance, selling electricity directly to customers through power purchase agreements.

Bret expects the first nuclear power plant in 2025 in either the UK, Poland or Romania - European countries with high energy costs or dependence on Russia.

If we can solve the energy problem, we can supercharge human progress.

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