Advancing Nuclear Innovation with INL’s Dr. John Wagner

Dr. John Wagner is the President of Battelle Energy Alliance and Director of the Idaho National Laboratory or INL. 

INL is one of 17 national labs in the United States and leads the nation in work on advanced nuclear research. INL boasts a rich legacy in the narrative of nuclear energy, marked by its pivotal role in producing the inaugural usable electricity from nuclear sources on its premises. Dozens of reactors have been built at INL during its decades of operation. 

Dr. Wagner has been with INL since 2016 and has been director of the lab since 2020. Prior to that, he was the division director at the Reactor and Nuclear Services division at Oak Ridge National Lab. He has a PhD in nuclear engineering from Penn State University and has spent his career working to advance nuclear energy innovation. 

In our conversation, we cover the history of INL, its key priorities, current projects under development, and Dr. Wagner’s vision for our nuclear future.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:00] DOE National Labs Overview
• [5:24] Introduction to Idaho National Laboratory
• [12:14] Current projects & reactors at INL, including Advanced Test Reactor (ATR)
• [14:10] INL's upcoming projects: MARVEL, PELE
• [15:39] How INL supports private firms in nuclear tech development
• [18:40] End-to-end reactor devolment cycle, e.g., MARVEL
• [26:57] How entrepreneurs can collaborate with INL
• [31:17] Collaboration with NRC, support for regulatory development and training
• [33:07] INL's involvement in fusion research
• [34:19] John's focus on nuclear fission, U.S. rebuilding
• [36:05] Future reactor mix: large-scale, modular, advanced

Resources Mentioned:

• Admiral Rickover's 'Paper Reactor' memo
• The Most Important Nuclear Reactor (You’ve Never Heard of)

Episode recorded on May 17, 2024 (Published on June 10, 2024)

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