Ashlee VanceNYT Best Seller | Reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek

Nuclear Energy for the 21st Century #nuclear #tech #science

24 Nov 2025 · 1 min

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In this brief dialogue, the speakers introduce TRISO nuclear fuel, a technology developed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory research. They explain that TRISO fuel consists of a fissile kernel surrounded by multiple coating layers that form a hermetically sealed particle, preventing the release of fission gases and providing robust containment. The conversation then shifts to small modular reactors (SMRs), noting that these compact reactors are gaining attention and, theoretically, could be sited wherever additional power is required.

Standard Nuclear is building off decades of research done at Oak Ridge National Lab into something called TRISO fuel.
You take that kernel and then you apply coating layers to it.
The casing acts like a containment system for each particle.
It's completely hermetically sealed, so none of the fission gases are getting out. And it's extremely effective, extremely robust.
These so-called small modular reactors are all the rage, and they can, in theory, be placed anywhere extra energy is needed.
What's happening? They're all just moving around, and the glow I'm seeing is just heat glowing red hot.