BWX Technologies, Inc.

Yeah, so in the small modular reactor, Gen 4 stuff, we as well as others have investments there. A great company we like called X Energy.

Jason oppose ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E236 · 2025-07-19 ▶ 55:18

This is, I think, Gavin, one of the great upshots of the AI boom is that the AI companies, whether it's Meta or Google, they're so motivated that they'll actually go and upgrade the infrastructure. They'll invest in the, you know, small modular nuclear reactors that are coming.

Jason oppose ×1 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E229 · 2025-05-24 ▶ 1:23:18

I saw yesterday the Tennessee Valley Authority filed the first ever application for a small modular reactor. Let's go. Hopefully, it gets approved very quickly.

Chamath support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E229 · 2025-05-24 ▶ 1:29:30

So then it's like, okay, what can I do? Nuclear? I can't, because that'll take till 2035

Chamath support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E225 · 2025-04-26 ▶ 1:23:03

This was an area that China chose, and now, you know, the US finds itself years behind on a technology that we invented, right? So this was research that happened at Oak Ridge National Lab.

Friedberg support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E225 · 2025-04-26 ▶ 1:25:36

So the regulatory constraints need to be addressed first and foremost. That's, in my opinion, the number one mission critical strategic comparative for the United States right now.

Chamath support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E218 · 2025-03-08 ▶ 28:07

OK, if you ordered one today, the fastest that you can get it turned on is 2030 The fastest that you can get nuclear turned on is 2035 So we don't have the ability to generate incremental electricity very quickly, but for renewables.

Chamath support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E212 · 2025-01-25 ▶ 1:34:58

Yeah, the downside is the amount of time it takes to adequately build these things properly. The thing that China has had is, it's as Thomas' chart shows, is decades of practice in building things safely and quickly. We can build things, but we haven't had the practice to build them either safely or quickly because we haven't built any.

Friedberg oppose ×3 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E212 · 2025-01-25 ▶ 1:30:42

we have new Gen 4 technologies that are meltdown proof, that have a totally different architecture where there isn't a setup, where you have runaway heat and ultimately a collapse of the reactor and a release of radioactive material, which is what happened at Chernobyl. These new systems, which we highlighted on the show a couple of months ago, like the Pebble Bed Reactor that's been in production making electricity in China, are incredible new technology architectures and they're here and they're running.

Jason oppose ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E200 · 2024-10-18 ▶ 53:39

I mean, I think there's plenty of land outside of the triangle here in Texas, where there is no density and you could put one and I'd have no problem with there being one 100 miles, 200 miles.

Friedberg oppose ×3 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E200 · 2024-10-18 ▶ 48:57

that it might be the fastest path to solving this energy gap problem is SMRs

Chamath support ×3 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E200 · 2024-10-18 ▶ 1:02:27

SMRs don't work yet. We have theoretical ways in which we can profile and model that they work, but we don't have a functional one that people can look at and inspect.

Sacks support ×3 ▼ on ⚡ US SMR buildout stalls on NIMBY and unproven technology E200 · 2024-10-18 ▶ 51:47

I don't think anyone wants a nuclear power plant in their backyard. It's really simple. I mean, no matter what the benefits are for AI or for America's global competitiveness, I just don't think your typical community wants a nuclear power plant in their backyard. And I don't think it matters that much if it's a small modular one either.

Friedberg support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US nuclear newbuild stays blocked by regulation — none of the new reactors ship E189 · 2024-07-26 ▶ 1:37:25

We have to get nuclear going in the United States, and these systems are safe. They are scalable.

Chamath support ×1 ▼ on ⚡ US nuclear newbuild stays blocked by regulation — none of the new reactors ship E189 · 2024-07-26 ▶ 1:37:21

So the only solution is to rewrite the regulation?

And the inspectors would go in, they say those walls aren't thick enough, knock them down and build another wall. And the environmental people were brutal.

Friedberg support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US nuclear newbuild stays blocked by regulation — none of the new reactors ship E184 · 2024-06-20 ▶ 18:52

In the US., we're not building any and our cost to build them is about 10,000 bucks a kilowatt.

Friedberg support ×2 ▼ on ⚡ US nuclear newbuild stays blocked by regulation — none of the new reactors ship E148 · 2023-10-07 ▶ 53:22

There's a lot of regulatory capture and incumbency that wants to see these things not succeed. I think we're really denying ourselves, in many cases, the opportunity to realize progress because we're so concerned about any loss. Nuclear fission is a really great example of this. Three Mile Island accident and Fukushima.

Jason oppose ×1 ▼ on ⚡ US nuclear newbuild stays blocked by regulation — none of the new reactors ship E144 · 2023-09-01 ▶ 55:01

We have plenty of companies building these new nuclear reactors.

Chamath support ×3 ▼ on ⚡ US nuclear newbuild stays blocked by regulation — none of the new reactors ship E144 · 2023-09-01 ▶ 52:44

My big comment in my thread is just more that I think that the regulatory support in the United States for nuclear is so constipated that it's impossible to get it done. So you could have the greatest technology in the world. I just don't see how the laws change fast enough and the zoning changes fast enough and the NIMBY-ism goes away to make these things viable.