This week, we talk about rare earth metals. What are they, where do they come from, and how are they redefining global power? I’m joined by David Abraham, a natural resource strategist who saw the future of rare earths in 2010 while working in Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. When China cut off rare earth exports over a territorial dispute, Abraham realized these obscure elements, sprinkled into our steel, the magnets in our speakers, the phosphors in our screens, held more geopo...
Sep 08, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 29Ep. 2
This week, we talk about the rise of the global battery industry: its history, key players, raw material struggles, and how China came to dominate it. To do so, I’m joined by Henry Sanderson, author of "Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green." We trace the story of electrification from Volta’s early experiments to the supply chains that now shape global power. Sanderson brings decades of reporting to a narrative that reveals China’s industrial strategy, the entrepreneurs behin...
Sep 01, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 29Ep. 1
This week, we talk about Russian nuclear exports. Michael Seely, host of AtomicBlender , joins me to discuss the rise of Rosatom: Russia’s nuclear energy behemoth that now builds nearly half of the world’s new reactors. We trace its formation after the Soviet collapse, its grip on the nuclear fuel market, and its unmatched “turnkey” model for newcomer nations. Rosatom’s nuclear exports are more than just a commercial endeavour—they can reshape global influence for decades. Michael's videos on Ca...
Aug 18, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Season 28Ep. 10
This week, we travel to the edge of the map with Aleksandr Surtcev , an engineer who has crewed Russian nuclear icebreakers along the Northern Sea Route. We explore how Russia’s Arctic fleet keeps this strategic corridor open, why floating nuclear plants are powering remote communities and mines, and what life looks like in a place where polar bears trail ships for fish and resupply markets pop up on the ice. Beneath the stories lies a deeper discussion of geopolitics, engineering, and the hard ...
Aug 12, 2025•54 min•Season 28Ep. 9
This week, Mark Nelson joins us to deliver his second annual “State of the Atom” address. The nuclear power landscape has transformed in the last two years. Russia continues its nuclear export dominance while the West at last awakens from its stupor, driven by an unexpected force: artificial intelligence's insatiable appetite for baseload power. From Amazon's billion-dollar Susquehanna deal to Three Mile Island's resurrection, Big Tech is discovering what nuclear advocates have long known: that ...
Jul 28, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 28Ep. 6
This week, we talk solar power—a long overdue topic on Decouple. In the past, guests have often been critical of the value of renewables on grids without extensive storage, and of the quality of jobs that politicians often claim when justifying renewables programs. Today, however, we drop preconceptions and get to the nuts and bolts. My guest is Seaver Wang, director of the Climate and Energy Research Program at The Breakthrough Institute. Despite is imperfections, the solar power has a remarkab...
Jul 08, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 28Ep. 5
We have an unusual episode today. One, because of its length (1 hour 40 minutes), and two, because I’m the guest. Joined by Aidan Morrison as acting host, I talk about a topic of intense interest to me: the Darlington SMR project in Ontario, Canada . I’ve been critical of this SMR project, which recently received its final investment decision, by calling for a pivot to CANDU reactors at the site. I use this episode to break down all my reasons for being critical, and to concede ground to this bo...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 40 min•Season 28Ep. 4
This week, we return to nuclear power. Specifically, nuclear construction and “learning curves.” It is intuitive that doing something over and over makes you better at it. In industry, this means driving down costs and timelines and boosting efficiencies. In many industries, the truth of learning curves is readily apparent. However, in Western nuclear construction it has been largely absent for decades. Robbie Stewart, CTO of Alva Energy , joins me to dissect why the nuclear industry struggles w...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 28Ep. 3
This week, I’m joined by Kyle Chan, author of the recent NYTimes Op-Ed titled "In the Future, China Will Be Dominant. The U.S. Will Be Irrelevant." Exploring the intense competitive pressures of Chinese “involution capitalism” and America’s fixation on shareholder returns, we discuss America’s waning relevance in global technology and manufacturing, and how critical choices made now could shape the economic and geopolitical landscape for decades. Chan is a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton Un...
Jun 17, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 28Ep. 2
This week, I’m joined by Patrick McGee, a journalist and author of Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company . I recommended this book on LinkedIn as a MUST READ, and stand by it. Apple in China is an in-depth corporate history which examines one of the most important symbioses in economic history. It explains Apple's meteoric rise in market capitalization/revenue, as well as China's newfound dominance in precision manufacturing. McGee argues convincingly that neither outcome w...
Jun 03, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 28Ep. 1
Last week, U.S. President Trump signed four executive orders to accelerate nuclear power deployment: Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy To help us understand the implications of these executive orders, I was joined by Thomas Hochman , director of infrastructure policy at the Foundation for American Inn...
May 28, 2025•57 min•Season 27Ep. 10
This week, we look beyond the physical infrastructure supporting our lives to the owners taking over that infrastructure: asset managers. Brett Christophers, an author, professor, and economic geographer at Uppsala University in Sweden, joins me to explore the troubling transformation of infrastructure ownership in today's economy. From housing to energy to water, massive asset management firms like Blackstone and Brookfield have positioned themselves more and more between citizens and essential...
May 20, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 27Ep. 9
In the wake of Europe's largest blackout in decades, commodities investor Alexander Stahel helps us to understand the physics of power grids, and how Spain's celebrated renewable transition became its Achilles' heel. He introduces the “hellbrise” phenomenon—excessive, rather than too little, renewable generation—as he considers the role of grid inertia in preventing minor disruptions from cascading into failures in mere seconds. Spanish energy policy isn’t the first time that green idealism has ...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 27Ep. 8
This week, we cover the recent blackout on the Iberian peninsula. Guillem Sanchis Ramirez , a Spanish nuclear engineer and advocate, walks us through the event that plunged over 50 million people into powerlessness and the power grid on which it happened. We cover Spain’s precarious dance with renewable energy, its political resistance to nuclear power, possible paths forward for the country’s energy supply, and our essential human reliance on stable electrical systems. Note: This interview was ...
May 06, 2025•51 min•Season 27Ep. 7
This week, we take a break from nuclear power to talk about larger systems: those of Planet Earth. Professor Andy Knoll, renowned Harvard geologist and author of A Brief History of Earth , reveals how life itself has shaped Earth's chemistry, climate, and geology. From the oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere to the potential colonization of Mars, we explore the constant and delicate dance between life and the planet. Read extended shownotes on Substack ....
Apr 29, 2025•57 min•Season 27Ep. 6
This week, we talk High Temperature Gas Reactors , or HTGRs, with a Decouple favorite: reactor designer and nuclear historian Nick Touran ( What Is Nuclear | X ). From the first conceptual sketch of an HTGR in wartime labs to today’s revival by players like X-energy and China’s fast-moving reactor fleet, we dissect what makes HTGRs unique—both in engineering promise and the difficulties that have long haunted their success. With helium cooling, TRISO fuel, and ambitions beyond electricity into p...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Season 27Ep. 5
This week, we talk tools. With precision machinist Noah Rettberg, we explore a facet of modernity as important as energy, for it is the technology that energy powers and the technology that makes that technology: machine tools. Noah draws from his professional knowledge and passion for history to takes from Roman metallurgy through the guild-protected craftsmanship of medieval Europe to the steam-powered revolution in machining to the cutting-edge of metalworking tools. Riveting!
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 27Ep. 4
This week, we talk radiation—the elephant in the room during many conversations about nuclear power. Nick Touran, a reactor designer and nuclear historian, helps us along. While nuclear advocates have made remarkable strides in dispelling public fears about radiation, Touran warns against the pendulum swinging too far toward complacency. We explore why maintaining a healthy respect for radiation remains crucial even as we champion nuclear power's expansion. Read the extended shownotes on Substac...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 27Ep. 3
Molten Salt Reactors are often portrayed as nuclear’s great missed opportunity, promising unparalleled safety, efficiency, and fuel sustainability. But are these promises reality or hype? Nick Touran, reactor designer and nuclear historian, joins me to tell the complex story behind molten salt reactors—from their ambitious beginnings during Cold War nuclear airplane experiments to the realities of managing radioactive liquid fuels. This conversation clears the mist around one of nuclear's most i...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 27Ep. 2
This week, we talk Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) with James Krellenstein, the CEO of Alva Energy. We dive into the engineering, history, and physics of these reactors, how they differ from other designs, and why the United States may have erred in not choosing the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) instead of the Westinghouse AP-1000 for the Vogtle nuclear power plant.For this episode, we’ve included a glossary below to help with unfamiliar terms: ABWR: Advanced Boiling Water Reactor ATWS: An...
Mar 18, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 27Ep. 1
This week, we talk industrial policy. Economist and author Steve Keen joins me to shine light on the present moment by exploring the historical use of tariffs and industrial policy in the development of industrial powers from Britain to China. In his usual style, Keen aims to dismantle the myths of free-market economics, explaining how virtually every successful industrial nation began with protectionist policies. With the US now engaged in a trade war with Canada and other nations under Trump's...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 26Ep. 10
Today, we talk uranium nuclear fuel. MIT Professor Koroush Shirvan, joins me to dive into the hidden complexities of nuclear fuels. From early fuel experiments that saw uranium rods turn into spaghetti-like structures under neutron bombardment to the intricate economics shaping the future of fuels like TRISO, Shirvan offers insights into the realities behind nuclear power’s remarkable yet challenging fuel technologies. Listen to discover how history shaped today's dominant fuel choices, why acci...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 26Ep. 9
This week, we return to China. David Fishman , senior manager at The Lantau Group , joins me again to dissect the unprecedented scale of China’s electrification, which Fishman says is driven by a mix of state planning, brutal market competition, and strategic energy security concerns. Our discussion ranges from the world's largest hydro projects to a coal industry that refuses to die; the forces driving China's power sector; the balance between state planning and market competition; and how this...
Feb 20, 2025•54 min•Season 26Ep. 8
This week, Decouple Germany correspondent Noah Rettberg, a physics laboratory technician and precision machinist , talks about the potential to restart German nuclear reactors. A new analysis from Radiant Energy Group examines Germany's potential to redeploy nuclear power using its existing reactor fleet. Through assessment of recently shuttered reactors, their report suggests Germany could restore up to 13 gigawatts of nuclear power to the European grid within eight years – potentially at much ...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 26Ep. 7
This week, we talk carbon capture. Canadian engineer and entrepreneur Ian MacGregor joins me to explore this misunderstood technology through the lens of someone who's actually built it. MacGregor, the architect behind the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line —the largest carbon capture and storage project in the world—cuts through the hype to discuss the thermodynamic and economic realities that govern this technology. Informed by decades of hands-on experience, he challenges popular narratives while offe...
Feb 04, 2025•55 min•Season 26Ep. 6
This week, we go to China. I spoke with David Fishman , senior manager at The Lantau Group, on the motivations and strategy behind China’s world-leading electrification efforts. What seems like a climate-action utopia to Western analysts appears to be a pragmatic response to pollution and energy security concerns. China's vulnerability to maritime oil blockades has spurred aggressive electrification across transport, industry, and urban infrastructure; and its state capitalist model has enabled ...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 27Ep. 5
Mark Nelson, managing director of Radiant Energy Group, joins us for a Masterclass on the slippery subject of oil. We zoom from ancient plankton to modern empires to see how a mysterious black liquid birthed from prehistoric seas now powers our civilization, touching on the complex chemistry, geology and history of oil.
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Season 27Ep. 4
Two thought leaders in the nuclear energy conversation, James Krellenstein and Ted Nordhaus, join Decouple for a “debate” over the question of reactor size: should advanced, small nuclear technologies lead the way for nuclear energy, or should conventional large reactors? What could have been a heated debate over nuclear energy's future ended up a nuanced discussion about the industry’s challenges—and how to overcome them. James Krellenstein is the co-founder and CEO of Alva Energy. Ted Nordhaus...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 27Ep. 3
Jeff Waksman, program manager for Project Pele, joins Dr. Chris Keefer to discuss the impetus for the military microreactor project, the logistics and energy challenges at the heart of modern warfare, and the technical considerations of microreactor development. Few voices are more qualified to speak on the state-of-the-art in tiny nuclear reactors. Tune in. Support Decouple: https://www.decouple.media
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 27Ep. 2
Steve Keen, economist and author, joins me to explain how modern economics has catastrophically misunderstood the role of energy in our world and underestimated the risks of climate change through oversimple models. In this in-person conversation, we discuss the evolution of economic thinking since feudalism, the shortcomings of prevailing economic models, modern monetary theory, the role of state capitalism in funding large infrastructure projects, and much else. Tune in! -- Support Decouple: h...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Season 27Ep. 1
