

Titans Of Nuclear | Interviewing World Experts on Nuclear Energy
Bret Kugelmass, Energy Impact Center
A podcast featuring interviews with experts throughout the Nuclear Energy field, covering advanced technology, economics, policy, industry, and more.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 3, 2019 • 49min
Ep 237: Stefano Monti, International Atomic Energy Agency
Stefano Monti joins Bret on the latest episode of Titans of Nuclear. 1) Fast reactor coolants and Russian deployment 2) Italy’s strong nuclear education despite the end of the state’s industry 3) The nonelectrical applications for reactor power, including hydrogen production and cogeneration 4) How SMRs take advantage of economies of series, rather than economies of scale, to decrease cost Find more episodes on iTunes, Spotify, and on our Titans of Nuclear YouTube. You can follow us on Twitter at @NuclearTitans.

Dec 2, 2019 • 24min
Ep 236: Senator Mike Crapo, U.S. Senate
Mike Crapo joins Bret on the latest episode of Titans of Nuclear. 1) Idaho Senator Mike Crapo recounts his childhood in Idaho Falls, Idaho and how the nearby Idaho National Laboratory impacted his career in politics 2) How the economy and the environment can both benefit from win-win energy solutions 3) Crapo provides an overview of the NEICA and NEIMA nuclear energy innovation bills and how they will transform the current nuclear industry 4) Why a whole-of-government approach is necessary for strengthening the U.S. national energy, national security, and economic policies Find more episodes on iTunes, Spotify, and on our Titans of Nuclear YouTube. You can follow us on Twitter at @NuclearTitans.

Nov 30, 2019 • 37min
Ep 235: Nam Dinh, North Carolina State University
In this episode... 1) Nam Dinh shares his path to nuclear engineering and the international education and research that kicked off his career 2) Why nuclear reactors were not originally designed with failure scenarios in mind and how that has changed 3) Nam reviews how current research projects are changing the way technology and simulation impact the design and licensing of nuclear reactors

Nov 29, 2019 • 48min
Ep 234: Mohamed Bourham, North Carolina State University
In this episode, we discuss... 1) Mohamed Bourham’s path to a career in nuclear from Egypt to Europe to North Carolina State University 2) Mohamed reviews his many areas of research, including electrothermal propulsion, radiation, waste, and material science 3) How dry cask storage for spent fuel has performed so far and why there are different ideas about nuclear waste storage 4) Mohamed explains how fusion is controlled with magnetic fields and the impact it has on materials in the fusion reactors

Nov 28, 2019 • 55min
Ep 233: Jacob Eapen, North Carolina State University
In this episode, we discuss how... 1) Jacob Eapen recalls his time working on safety analysis of the advanced heavy water reactor at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in India 2) How Jacob expanded his career in the U.S. nuclear academic and industrial spaces to focus on computational material science 3) Jacob’s current and past research projects in the material science space includes analysis of high temperature properties of UO2 fuel 4) Jacob explains why accident tolerant fuels are being developed and some of the challenges faced in choosing a material for the fuel cladding

Nov 27, 2019 • 54min
Ep 232: Ayman Hawari, North Carolina State University
In this episode, we discuss... 1) Increasing measurement accuracy with gamma rays 2) Understanding cross sections, thermal neutrons and fast neutrons 3) The PULSTAR research reactor design and how it is used to produce positrons 4) Demonstrating inherent safety with small research reactors

Nov 26, 2019 • 41min
Ep 231: Steve Shannon, North Carolina State University
In this episode, we discuss... 1) The difference between plasma and gas 2) How fusion differs from fission 3) How plasma enables low heat molecule deconstruction 4) The current and future uses of plasma for industry manufacturing and advancements

Nov 25, 2019 • 26min
Ep 230: Yousry Azmy, North Carolina State University
In this episode, we discuss how... 1) Yousry Azmy recalls his path to academia in the nuclear space and explains how neutrons interact in a nuclear reactor 2) Yousry Azmy discusses his research in solving the transport equation on unstructured grids and explains the levels of a reactor transport problem

Nov 24, 2019 • 46min
Ep 229: Kostadin Ivanov, North Carolina State University
In this episode, we discuss... 1) The Russian VVER and BN-800 designs 2) Developing optimization methods for the VVER at Penn State 3) How a lack of scientific support in Bulgaria caused nuclear scientists to move to western countries 4) Developing benchmarks with high fidelity simulations

Nov 21, 2019 • 43min
Ep 228: Janelle Wharry, Purdue University
In this episode, we discuss... 1) How radiation changes materials within a reactor 2) The advancement of electron-beam welding and the potential to decrease cost and extend reactor lifetimes 3) Strengthening materials by precisely deforming crystal structures with radiation 4) The need to deploy technological advancements to move the nuclear industry forward