Recently, I got to go hang out at the Idaho National Labs in Idaho Falls. There are thousands of people at those labs, working on the future of energy for the United States. They’re working on renewable energy of course. They’re working on all kinds of things that I had no idea were happening. Around recycling and waste processing, but primarily they are working on nuclear reactors. It was such a treat for me to go see all the work they’re doing. We have engineers who spent their entire careers working on the technologies for nuclear reactors. We need to make this happen at a large scale. I don’t know why we haven’t been putting these people to use and making a lot of nuclear reactors.

They know everything! They’re testing fuels, they’re testing metals, they’re testing different reactor designs. They have live reactors there, since the 1950s, that they use for this kind of testing. It’s incredible what I got to see.

And one of the folks I got to meet there was Ahmad Al Rashdan. He’s a PhD that’s working as a senior research and development scientist at the Nuclear Science and Technology Directorate at Idaho National Labs.

This is a short but important conversation for me. You get to see me asking the questions that I need to ratify my view and understanding of what’s happening with nuclear reactors and what’s possible with them. I’m getting to ask an expert who spends his entire career every day, working on these technologies and it’s very important.

I don’t want to have the wrong ideas because you hear me evangelizing nuclear reactors a lot! I want to know as much as possible, and I’m grateful to have a chance to pick some brains now and then of people who are in different parts of the entire chain of making this possible.

Important Links:

• Ahmad Al Rashdan Research Bio
• Idaho National Labs