Podcast Summary: The Missing Piece Holding Back Advanced Nuclear with Standard Nuclear

Podcast: Inevitable (an MCJ podcast)
Episode Date: January 6, 2026
Host: Cody Simms
Guest: Kurt Turani, CEO of Standard Nuclear
Theme: Understanding the crucial role of TRISO fuel in unlocking the potential of advanced nuclear reactors, the history and future of the nuclear fuel supply chain, and how Standard Nuclear is positioned to drive industry-wide change.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Cody Simms interviews Kurt Turani, CEO and self-described “ultimate nuclear nerd” at Standard Nuclear. The conversation dives deeply into the often-overlooked "fuel" side of the nuclear energy equation—tracing the journey from uranium mining to fabrication, explaining TRISO fuel’s unique properties, and exploring why a reactor-agnostic, commodity-style fuel supply is critical for scaling advanced nuclear. The pair also discuss Standard Nuclear’s atypical origin story, industry supply chain bottlenecks, and how standardization can support rapid market expansion.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Mission and Origins of Standard Nuclear

• Focus: “We want to put the nuclear in the nuclear energy. We want to deliver the key enabling building blocks of nuclear power… the fuel that fissions, where the nuclear reaction happens.” – Kurt Turani [01:53]
• Location: Based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, leveraging the area’s historical and infrastructural significance in nuclear technology [02:49–05:22].
• Company Origins: Formed in 2024 following Ultra Safe Nuclear’s bankruptcy; spun out from USNC’s fuel manufacturing assets with the explicit intent to provide reactor-agnostic TRISO fuel [24:57, 28:07]. Backed by Decisive Point and Andreessen Horowitz.

2. Nuclear Fuel 101: The Front End of the Fuel Cycle

• Fuel Chain Steps: Mining/milling → Conversion (oxide to UF6 gas) → Enrichment (centrifuge tech) → Deconversion → Fuel fabrication [06:07–10:17].
• US Historical Strengths and Gaps: Once a leader in every part of the fuel cycle, the US lost ground in enrichment and conversion in the 1990s. There is now a push to restore and expand domestic capabilities, fueled by demand for advanced reactor fuels [06:07–10:17].
• Insight: “The 90s was really the valley of death for a lot of structure… once you walk away from [these capabilities], to put them back into place is challenging.” – Kurt Turani [08:06]

3. What Makes TRISO Fuel Unique?

• TRISO Fuel Explained:
  • Tiny, poppy seed-sized particles of uranium fuel, each coated in multiple ceramic layers.
  • Designed to contain radioactivity at the source, withstand extreme temperatures, and minimize the need for massive protective infrastructure [10:47–16:06].
• History: The concept dates to the 1950s; early high-temperature gas reactors faced technical issues with heat exchangers, not with the fuel itself [13:25–17:56].
• Advantage: “The heat gets out, but the radioactivity stays within the little ball.” – Cody Simms [16:02]
  • “That's really the ideal nuclear fuel. And it removes the burden of having all this concrete and steel around it.” – Kurt Turani [16:06]

4. The Bottleneck: Enrichment for Advanced Fuel

• Enrichment Levels: Traditional reactors use 5% enriched uranium; TRISO often prefers 15–19% (“high-assay low enriched uranium”—HALEU), well below weapons-grade [18:30–20:50].
• Supply Chain Issues: With Russian enrichment off the table, there’s both a scarcity and a price spike for higher enrichment; US DOE temporarily supplies enriched uranium, while new domestic players ramp up [18:30–23:02].
• Memorable Quote: “Crisis is often an opportunity. There’s a lot of good companies investing in bringing enrichment to higher assays.” – Kurt Turani [22:35]

5. Reactor Developers vs. Fuel Suppliers: The Case for Standardization

• Current State: Many advanced reactor startups attempt vertical integration—designing and making their own fuel—but this fragments supply and limits scalability [24:03–28:07].
• Standard Nuclear’s Role: As a “reactor-agnostic” supplier, it aims to do for nuclear fuel what common gasoline blenders do for cars: provide interchangeable, commodity-like access [28:07–30:02].
• Analogy: “If you buy Toyota cars but had to buy gas only from Toyota gas stations, would you buy Toyota?… Fuel is a commodity. Every other kind of fuel is a commodity and so is nuclear fuel.” – Kurt Turani [29:13]

6. Product Customization and the Path to Open Standards

• Current Variability: While each reactor designer now requests their own unique “recipe,” Standard Nuclear’s manufacturing is built to flexibly accommodate variation [30:44–33:13].
• Vision for Standardization: Organizing industry-wide creation of open standards for TRISO fuel—enabling economies of scale and accelerating reactor deployment [33:13–35:15].
• Industry Movement: “We actually had a workshop in May… and we presented the idea of an open standard triso.” – Kurt Turani [33:48]
  • “There needs to be a little bit of standardization… Like at a gas station, you have three grades.” [32:09]

7. Market Outlook and Venture-Scale Bets

• Venture Perspective: Unusual for a VC-backed company to aim for commoditization, but Standard Nuclear is “betting on the wave coming” and wants to be the gas station for advanced nuclear [36:28].
• Demand Signals: Advanced reactor market momentum—driven by policy, real customer demand, and robust order books.
• Company’s Current State: Largest TRISO manufacturing capacity outside China, already fully booked for 2025–2026, with rapid expansion planned [36:28–39:03].

8. Challenges Unique to Nuclear Fuel Startups

• Regulatory Grit: “It is a rigorous, painful process, rigorous to go through [regulatory review]… You take all those things, you multiply it by 10 when it comes to nuclear, it's overkill.” – Kurt Turani [39:25]
• Scaling Ambition: The goal is industry-wide impact—serving defense, space, communities, and hyperscale/datacenter markets [39:25–42:13].
• Collaboration Spirit: Noted openness and collaboration among advanced nuclear fuel suppliers, e.g., with Matt at ALO [42:13–42:17].

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• What’s Nuclear’s “Nuclear” Piece?
  “The nuclear piece is… the fuel where the nuclear reaction happens. Not what happens afterwards.” – Kurt Turani [01:53]

• On TRISO’s Value Proposition:
  “Instead of relying on that big concrete containment… let’s have millions… of small pressure vessels in the form of these ceramic pressure vessels.” – Kurt Turani [13:46]

• Analogy for Fuel Standardization:
  “When you go to the gas station, you've got three grades. So there needs to be a little bit of standardization and we need to again commoditize.” – Kurt Turani [32:09]

• On Regulatory Oversight:
  “The nuclear regulations. Overkill… You multiply by 10 when it comes to nuclear, it's overkill.” – Kurt Turani [39:25]

• The Ultimate Goal:
  “At the end of the day, this is about making sure this nation and our humanity benefits from the source of energy and be delivered in big scale and low cost.” – Kurt Turani [42:26]

Key Timestamps

• 01:53 – Kurt’s mission: focusing on the “nuclear” part of nuclear energy—fuel.
• 05:22 – US nuclear fuel chain explained; Oak Ridge’s role in history.
• 10:47 – TRISO fuel explained in plain English; its advantages.
• 13:25 – History of why TRISO reactors didn’t dominate (heat exchanger issues, not fuel).
• 16:02 – TRISO advantages re: containing radioactivity.
• 18:30 – Discussion of enrichment bottlenecks and US government’s gap-filling role.
• 24:57 – Why advanced nuclear startups try to vertically integrate, and why it’s so hard.
• 28:07 – Standard Nuclear’s origin story out of USNC’s reorganization.
• 32:09 – The need for standardization: “like gasoline grades.”
• 33:48 – Industry effort to develop open TRISO standards.
• 36:28 – Market scale outlook; why commoditization underpins the business.
• 39:25 – Regulatory barriers and unique challenges of nuclear fuel manufacturing.
• 42:26 – Collaborative industry spirit and the importance of nuclear’s track record.

Tone

• Engaged, optimistic, occasionally irreverent: Kurt’s passion for both technology and the broader nuclear narrative comes through.
• Grounded but visionary: Both host and guest avoid hype, grounding their optimism in hard-won lessons, data, and clear analogies.

For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode offers a masterclass in the nitty-gritty of nuclear energy’s fuel supply, highlighting why TRISO fuel could become a keystone for clean, scalable advanced nuclear—if the industry can build the supply chain and common standards needed to support it. Standard Nuclear, through technical innovation and industry collaboration, aims to make fuel as easy and accessible for nuclear as gasoline is for cars. The story is as much about the pragmatic hurdles of heavy industry and regulation as it is about the hopeful wave of advanced nuclear on the horizon.