Deep Dive Season 1: Nuclear Energy | Episode 1 - "Fission is the New Fire" | Nuclear Investor Rod Adams on the Nuclear Renaissance, AI's Role in Nuclear Design, and Building Through Regulatory Change

The Diligent Observer Podcast

Today's episode explores three ideas that caught my attention:

1. AI is Transforming Nuclear Too - The possibility of applying AI tools to parse 4,500-page regulatory documents represents a breakthrough in addressing one of nuclear's biggest bottlenecks - regulatory compliance.
2. Falling Demand Drove Nuclear's Decline in the Late 1970s, Not 3 Mile Island - Rod's point about nuclear orders stopping in 1974—five years before Three Mile Island—due to falling electricity demand growth challenges the standard narrative. Reduced energy consumption, not safety concerns, actually killed the first nuclear boom.
3. Don't Call It a Comeback - When Rod pointed out that historians can't agree within 50 years when the actual Renaissance began, it reframed today's "nuclear renaissance" conversation. Perhaps 2005-2008 was not the “false start” that many consider it to be, but rather the early stages of a much longer transition.

I explore these ideas and more with Rod Adams, Managing Partner at Nucleation Capital. Rod brings over three decades of nuclear industry experience spanning military operations, entrepreneurship, and investment. As a former submarine engineer who lived alongside an operational reactor and founder of Adams Atomic Engines in 1993—one of the first small modular reactor companies—he combines deep technical expertise with commercial insight. Today at Nucleation Capital, he's helping shape the next generation of nuclear technology companies while also publishing Atomic Insights and hosting the Atomic Show podcast, platforms he's used for nearly 30 years to explore nuclear technology, policy, and market dynamics.

During our conversation, Rod shares:

• Why the oil and gas talent migration to nuclear matters, including specific examples of how drilling expertise is revolutionizing the possibilities for waste storage
• Why Texas and many other states aim to become a global nuclear leader, and what this means for the future of energy infrastructure development
• A practical framework for evaluating nuclear technology investments, including key metrics for assessing both technical and market risk

⚛️ The Nuclear Energy Investing Playbook

This episode is part of a special 5-part season on nuclear energy investing. Want to go deeper? Pre-order The Nuclear Energy Investing Playbook:

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Chapters

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Rod's Background in Nuclear Energy (00:02:45)

3. Challenges and Innovations in Nuclear Energy (00:04:35)

4. Nucleation Capital's Investment Strategy (00:14:47)

5. Recent Developments in Nuclear Investments (00:19:19)

6. The Nuclear Renaissance (00:21:20)

7. Nuclear Accidents: A Historical Perspective (00:31:25)

8. Personal Experiences in the Nuclear Industry (00:34:44)

9. Major Players in the Nuclear Energy Sector (00:37:15)

10. Innovations and Startups in Nuclear Energy (00:42:16)

11. Addressing Nuclear Waste and Safety (00:45:18)

12. The Role of AI in Nuclear Energy (00:48:58)

13. Future Prospects and Clean Energy (00:50:20)