{"id":360178,"date":"2021-10-30T13:38:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T10:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/your-digital-self-former-spacex-engineers-founded-a-company-to-build-climate-friendly-cost-effective-portable-nuclear-reactors\/"},"modified":"2021-10-30T13:38:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T10:38:00","slug":"your-digital-self-former-spacex-engineers-founded-a-company-to-build-climate-friendly-cost-effective-portable-nuclear-reactors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-digital-self-former-spacex-engineers-founded-a-company-to-build-climate-friendly-cost-effective-portable-nuclear-reactors\/","title":{"rendered":"#Your Digital Self: Former SpaceX engineers founded a company to build \u2018climate-friendly, cost-effective\u2019 portable nuclear reactors"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a41296966e40\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a41296966e40\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-digital-self-former-spacex-engineers-founded-a-company-to-build-climate-friendly-cost-effective-portable-nuclear-reactors\/#Q_A_with_Radiant_CEO_Doug_Bernauer_%E2%80%98We_are_innovating_in_an_industry_not_accustomed_to_innovation\" >Q&amp;A with Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer: \u2018We are innovating in an industry not accustomed to innovation.\u2019<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/your-digital-self-former-spacex-engineers-founded-a-company-to-build-climate-friendly-cost-effective-portable-nuclear-reactors\/#Jurica_Dujmovic\" >Jurica Dujmovic<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Your Digital Self: Former SpaceX engineers founded a company to build \u2018climate-friendly, cost-effective\u2019 portable nuclear reactors<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article__subhead\" itemprop=\"alternativeHeadline\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Q_A_with_Radiant_CEO_Doug_Bernauer_%E2%80%98We_are_innovating_in_an_industry_not_accustomed_to_innovation\"><\/span>\n  Q&amp;A with Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer: \u2018We are innovating in an industry not accustomed to innovation.\u2019<br \/>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"column column--full article__content\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"article body\">\n<div class=\"article__side\">\n<div class=\"container--sticky not-active\">\n<div id=\"cx-next\" data-nosnippet>\n              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"js-article__body\" class=\"article__body article-wrap at16-col16 barrons-article-wrap\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000464631\" role=\"document\">\n<div class=\"barrons-article-ad-wrapper\">\n<div data-track=\"barrons-article-ad-wrap\" class=\"barrons-article-ad sticky_item\">\n<div class=\"barrons-main-article-ad-target sticky_target body_ad\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-layout=\"\n                inline\" data-layout-mobile=\"\" class=\"\n          media-object\n          type-InsetArticleReader\n              \n              inline\n  article__inset\n          article__inset--type-InsetArticleReader\n              article__inset--inline\n  \"><\/p>\n<div class=\"media-object-article-reader\">\n<div class=\"audioplayer\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000464631\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Listen to Article\" tabindex=\"-1\" id=\"articlereader\" data-show-title=\"false\" data-theme=\"wsj-article-reader\" data-show-header=\"false\" data-show-subscribe=\"false\" data-ads-enabled=\"true\" data-save-publication=\"false\">\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>       <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.radiantnuclear.com\/\" class=\"icon none\">Radiant<\/a> is moving forward with plans to bring <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.world-nuclear.org\/information-library\/nuclear-fuel-cycle\/nuclear-power-reactors\/small-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx\" class=\"icon none\">small nuclear reactors<\/a> \u2014 also known as \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nei.org\/CorporateSite\/media\/filefolder\/resources\/reports-and-briefs\/Report-Cost-Competitiveness-of-Micro-Reactors-for-Remote-Markets.pdf\" class=\"icon none\">micro reactors<\/a>\u201d \u2014 to market.<\/p>\n<p> The shipping-container-sized units are capable of operating independently from the electric grid to supply highly resilient power for critical loads under normal and emergency conditions. <\/p>\n<div class=\"paywall\">\n       The El Segundo, Calif.-based company was founded by a group of former SpaceX engineers, one of whom is Radiant\u2019s CEO, Doug Bernauer. (Tesla\u2019s<br \/>\n        TSLA,<br \/>\n        <bg-quote field=\"percentchange\" format=\"0,000.00%\" channel=\"\/zigman2\/quotes\/203558040\/composite\" class=\"positive\">+3.43%<\/bg-quote><br \/>\n       Elon Musk founded SpaceX.) I discussed with him micro reactors\u2019 potential, challenges and the future of the company, as well as Kaleidos, its 1.2-megawatt (MW) nuclear reactor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MarketWatch: Could you tell us a few things about yourself and the company? Why did you move from colonizing space \u2014 one of SpaceX\u2019s aims \u2014 to nuclear energy?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>DB: I worked at SpaceX for 12 years, working on a wide variety of research-and-development projects. I joined SpaceX to help with the mission of colonizing space, which I still believe is one of the noblest causes, worthy of dedicating a life\u2019s work. During the course of my time at SpaceX, I came to understand that you can only effectively turn Mars into a frontier with nuclear power.\u00a0I began to study nuclear <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> and found that portable nuclear generators could actually be a climate-friendly, cost-effective replacement for diesel generators on Earth. Portable generators can power remote islands and villages, and can provide backup power for life-saving <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>lications like in hospitals or disaster-relief scenarios. Portable reactors could revolutionize the nuclear industry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW: What exactly are the portable reactors you\u2019re developing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>DB:\u00a0We\u2019re developing Kaleidos, a 1.2MW reactor, or enough power for about 1,000 homes.\u00a0The units are designed to last around five years, but the exact duration depends on the variability of the demand. After five years, the units are shipped back to the factory and can have the core replaced three times for a total of four core loads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW: How accessible will your reactors be to the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> public in terms of price and regulations? Is this something small townships, or even a group of households in remote areas, could invest in on their own?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>DB: Accessibility to the general public would only happen after deploying many units and proving safety with those earlier customers. The first customers are in off-grid, remote areas and power will be provided through utilities. Generally, the units are affordable, but they need a large enough community \u2014 at least hundreds of homes \u2014 to achieve efficient outputs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW: Other than providing electricity for households, where do you see Radiant reactors being used?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>DB: Electricity generation, portable and scalable, can save lives, so it could replace diesel for hospitals or\u00a0disaster relief. Any off-grid location, especially in cold regions, needs reliable power generation for the same reason.\u00a0The military certainly operates in remote and off-grid locations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW: People generally consider nuclear energy quite dangerous. What are the risks of having one such reactor in a vicinity of a household? How different are they compared to conventional water-cooled reactors?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"cx-membership-tile\"><\/div>\n<p>DB: These units aren\u2019t going to be used in anyone\u2019s backyard; they will only be installed by utilities where there is full public support. We use a meltdown-proof <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/ne\/articles\/triso-particles-most-robust-nuclear-fuel-earth\" class=\"icon none\">TRISO fuel<\/a>, consisting of poppy seed-sized capsules surrounding tiny grains of fuel.\u00a0 These particles can\u2019t melt, and if they were dropped on the ground, they could be easily scooped up. We also use helium coolant, which uniquely doesn\u2019t become radioactive. A helium leak would be insignificant, while the existing water-cooled reactors and new molten salt reactor leaks would both be hazardous and with potential to contaminate the ground.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW:\u00a0Do your products come in different shapes and sizes? Can we expect smaller reactors that could, perhaps, provide enough energy for a single household?<br \/><\/strong><br \/>DB: You would never see a fission reactor for a single household; it would not be affordable with today\u2019s technology. The shielding required doesn\u2019t scale down at the same rate as the power level, so even a very small reactor is still extremely heavy.\u00a0Scaling further down would only make sense to provide power in locations which are very expensive to reach with other power sources, such as space due to launch costs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW:\u00a0Aside from (possibly) fighting the public perception of these devices, what other challenges are you facing as you launch a revolutionary product such as this one?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>DB: We are innovating in an industry which is not accustomed to innovation. Materials sourcing and regulations still under development are challenges. A primary challenge we are facing is attracting enough experienced nuclear design engineers.\u00a0We will revolutionize the industry, but we need experienced engineers to sign on so we can bring this technology to the world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW: How do your reactors compare to, say, a solar power plant that provides the same amount of power?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>DB: Our unit takes up less space and can generate all the time, day or night, cloudy or clear.\u00a0The solar plant would need battery backup to have similarly dispatchable power, which would lead to a very costly approach.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW: How close are you to releasing your product on the market?<br \/><\/strong><br \/>DB: We expect to hit markets in 2028.\u00a0We\u2019ve raised over $3 million to date and have received awards from DOE (Department of Energy) and DoD (Department of Defense). We\u2019ve gone from three people a year ago to 14 today; we\u2019re hiring rapidly.\u00a0We have built a control drum, an advanced simulator and will release a demonstration in the next few months.<\/p>\n<p>We should have a fueled demonstration in five years. Radiant will always be a portable nuclear reactor developer. In 10 years we should have 25 units built and operating and be working on another design. We currently have no planned future products \u2014 we are focused on our Kaleidos reactor development solely. Portable reactors could be used anywhere humans want to be. Power-generation sources are the root of life support \u2014 if you have power, you can purify water or air and grow food.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MW: Thank you, Doug. This was very interesting and highly informative. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There you have it. What\u2019s your take on portable nuclear reactors? Do you see them as a hazard or the future of clean energy? Let me know in the comment section below.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"byline article__byline\">\n<p>    <span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author mobile-scrim hasMenu\" data-scrim='{\"type\":\"author\",\"header\":\"Jurica Dujmovic\",\"subhead\":\"The Wall Street Journal\",\"list\":[,{\"type\":\"link\",\"icon\":\"email\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/news\/mailto:contributors@marketwatch.com\",\"text\":\"contributors@marketwatch.com\"}]}' itemscope itemprop=\"author\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n<h4 itemprop=\"name\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jurica_Dujmovic\"><\/span>Jurica Dujmovic<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/news\/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-7716-F7BBF2BEDFFC%7D&#038;siteid=rss&#038;rss=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Your Digital Self: Former SpaceX engineers founded a company to build \u2018climate-friendly, cost-effective\u2019 portable nuclear reactors&#8221; Q&amp;A with Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer: \u2018We are innovating in an industry not accustomed to innovation.\u2019 Radiant is moving forward with plans to bring small nuclear reactors \u2014 also known as \u201cmicro reactors\u201d \u2014 to market. The shipping-container-sized units&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":360179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-426313\/social","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}