#16: Idaho National Lab | Inside the DOE Advanced Fuels Campaign with Dan Wachs

Host Brennan Moore sits down with Dan Wachs, National Technical Director for the Advanced Fuels Campaign at Idaho National Lab, to explore the changing landscape of nuclear energy. Wachs details the industry's evolution from the "dark ages" of the 1990s to today's commercial renaissance driven by high-quality power demands. The conversation highlights critical supply chain bottlenecks in uranium conversion and enrichment, the development of robust TRISO and metallic fuels, and the game-changing economic potential of fuel reprocessing. Ultimately, Wachs underscores that scaling advanced reactors requires stabilizing domestic fuel cycles to secure long-term energy independence.