Ep 02: Per Peterson, Kairos Power

In this episode we interview Per Peterson, professor at one of UC Berkeley's Nuclear reactors groups. He's the world expert on Fluoride Salt Cooled High Temperature reactors and a founder of Kairos Power, an Oakland, CA based nuclear startup, pursuing commercialization of that same technology. He has a lot of insight to share in this space including: The true cost drivers in plant construction and operations Civil nuclear energy from the perspective of non-proliferation Public misunderstandings around nuclear waste Theories around various safety design approaches Integral effects test facilities and their role in new reactor technology development How market failures make it challenging to develop new reactors Opportunities to borrow learnings from the success of the revitalization of the private space industry