NEI Nuclear Notes

Dr. Leslie Dewan Later this morning, the House Science Committee will hold a hearing on the "Future of Nuclear Energy" . Click here to watch the hearing live on UStream at 10:00 a.m. Featured on the witness list is a name that our readers will be familiar with - Dr .Leslie Dewan of Transatomic Power . She was kind enough to pass along a copy of her testimony so we could preview it for you right now. We've gotten to know Dr. Dewan very well over the past year thanks to her role in NEI's Future of Energy campaign . Transatomic is developing a new reactor that's designed to burn used nuclear fuel . It's an incredibly promising new technology, but one that Dr. Dewan is concerned won't come to market first in the U.S. because of regulatory hurdles. It was just those sort of challenges that led the Bill Gates nuclear startup Terrapower to decide to build their first prototype in China : The commercial nuclear regulatory structure in the United State...

Transatomic Power Logo We generally don't pay much attention to news from the venture capital community here at NEI Nuclear Notes, but for one day we're happy to make an exception for this announcement from Transatomic Power : Transatomic Power, developers of a breakthrough in nuclear reactor design, announced today that FF Science, an investment vehicle of Founders Fund, has invested $2 million to assist the company with its seed stage development. The funds will be used for bench-top laboratory testing and refinement of the company’s designs and computer models. "We believe there are massive opportunities for innovation across all parts of the energy sector, ranging from technologies to improve production and transmission to new methods of baseload generation, like the Transatomic Power reactor. Transatomic has the potential to make nuclear energy clean, safe, and affordable, providing a low-cost source of carbon-free power and consuming the waste of older react...