Fission Nuclear Energy Lunch & Learn
Disclaimer:
Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics Covered: Fission, (not) Fusion, Power Grid, Government, Geopolitics, Investing, Global Energy Crisis, ‘Global Warming’, Climate Change, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy,
Going Nuclear? Sure! Where, when, how?! Energy is something we ALL use - so why not learn more about it? Lately, I attended some events on batteries, energy storage, fusion, fission… so this was right in line. Plus lunch is included!
Why attend: Well… lately there is so much hype in the region about fusion… so why are people still talking about fission? Cause it’s here and it’s been here for 50 years. This event hosted about 200 people and talked about investing in fission technology. Is this a smart and wise idea for our resources? Or is it buying a bunch of coloring books before the release of XBOX? Idk!! You tell me. Let’s see what’s going on.
Overall Event Ratings: Venue (4.5/5), Food (5/5), Speaker Content (4/5), Networking (4/5), Likeliness to Return (4/5)… (more below)
Photo Collage & Commentary
Event Notes:
COMPLICATED ARRIVAL:
Okay, I just trusted myself too much and read this was hosted by the chamber of commerce so I headed to their office. Even arrived early, hung out in the lobby… lost track of time, finally went to attend - and it wasn’t there. THEIR OFFICE WAS EVEN FULLY UNLOCKED!! But no one inside. Then I reread the email and saw it was at a nearby hotel.
I grabbed a taxi and headed straight there for $10 - the driver was super funny too. I told him what had happened and he and I were both shocked that the government building was unlocked like that!!
But then again, they’re the government, so they can kinda require the insurance companies to pay up if anything happens. We talked about how they’re in a win-win situation in some ways, kinda… depending on if they do it intentionally or controlled at all hahaha. Robberies, etc. Omg. Just strange to leave your building unlocked like that.
But also then we joked probably they have a team in India or something probably watching the cameras all the time keeping an eye.
We laughed how even though there are no humans there, its an old fashioned way of thinking… even if the presence of humans aren’t around, it doesn’t mean you’re alone.
SPEAKER INTRODUCTION:
The hotel was so epic and awesome. I liked it and I got myself cleaned up when I arrived.
Straightened up my hair, checked my teeth… then next thing you know, an announcer (with the legit 10/10 most announcer voice), said stuff along the lines of, “Ladies and Gentleman, the presentations will begin in 5 minutes, please take your seats.”
Was he picked to lull people into this event, like a trusted radio host!?! Lol.
I even commented to a random lady how he was nailing it and if he was randomly selected for that, WOW they picked a good guy for the job. Hahah.
Then the food was sitting and waiting for us, desserts—- for the end… some bread rolls in teh middle. And eventually people brought out salads. I”d never been to this lunch, or not in a while, where they served you like this. usually its serve yourself, or I’ve seen that at a dinner. But never at lunch. Was fine.
I’d also brought my computer to take notes, but realized it was not the crowd/vibe to take notes, so all of my notes below are just handwritten of what I could. I had to ask the hotel for a pad of paper and pen
This speaker has over 30 years of experience in the nuclear field.
His walk-up song was Come On Eileen, which was so funny because he's a balding guy…. but he didn’t even mention it.
I wonder who picked the song. I also thought it would be funny if he played the whole song—that’s such a commitment of a song. It’s so long… like, even in karaoke, it’s a bit of a torture to the audience unless you hyper-commit and entertain. It’s long.
So, like, five seconds of Come On Eileen cracked up the audience, but then it was never acknowledged—straight into the talk.
it was bizarre that it wasn’t acknowledge - especially cause the audience laughed but then he just didnt even seem to notice. Was it an inside joke or something? hahaha. Do you have better things to talk about? Move on?
Such a random song choice, hahaha. Who picked it? Him? Someone else?!?!?!? Hahah we’ll never know. One thing that ‘living in china’ taught me was to just be okay with not understanding things. Sometimes you’ll just never know. hahaha.
SPEAKER BIO:
This guy giving the presentation and talking today joined his current job with almost no knowledge of computing. He laughed because now he’s speaking in one of the most computer-literate cities on Earth (Seattle).
Is this part of a larger theme where people don’t need to know the details, just trust us?? Does he still play dumb in things?
B. Gates personally interviewed him and picked him to work alongside him at this fission company. BG wanted him to come work at this company because of his experience in the Navy and energy sector.
Clearly Bill G likes this guy’s way of thinking and he wants to execute the exact vision he has.
Bill G. really wants free energy sources.
wait, what? That’s literally a fusion talking point, but Gates in only investing in fission right now. So why is he using “free energy” language when backing fission? Is he shifting the convo away from fusion to control the rollout later?
Does ‘free energy’ mean something else to him? Like ‘controlled energy’ cause of the atmosphere or environment?
Does he mean ‘free’ like ai willl make energy optimization better, not truly free?
It feels like strange phrasing to sound futuristic but also keep the focus on fission??
The computer sector in data is so important. It’s a great opportunity here to talk to people who know computing so well.
Bill really supports AI.
Lol. If BG can control energy and ai he can shape who gets the energy, how it is distributed, and prioritized….
Data is now directly tied to energy so whoever controls the computers controls the access to power.
DEMAND OF ELECTRICITY AND POWER:
Electricity is not a fast-moving industry—over the past 30 years, there has been very minimal demand growth.
The grid was so great for a while. We had a great grid with transmission and generation assets.
For a while here recently, we were even cutting down on energy demand and use with more LED lighting, and energy-saving focus.
They’re like, see!! We have no choice, We need to build more nuclear plants (but why not fusion instead? oh - they don’t own it?? idk? Are they trying to create an urgency around fission before fusion takes over? Idk?)
However, now data center demand, electric vehicles, and many other factors are causing stressors.
We expect demand to double or triple in the USA over the next 25 years—all while removing coal plants from our energy supply.
Coal has a negative connotation, but it’s so valuable. Over the past 100 years, coal has powered the great East Coast and places like Wyoming.
Lol he’s defending coal but also promoting nuclear.
He’s asking peopel to see that coal is a necessary evil while we build out nuclear…
But now there is a lot of stress on the grid and generation assets.
Energy NW showed that the best way to build out the grid is 20-30% nuclear energy. It could save $1,000 per person in WA with this—it’s in their business plan.
Who gets to decide the priority access to power? Cities? Data centers? industries?
Is this slowly prepping people for an ‘energy access’ discussion in the future?
This huge ‘need’ for nuclear NOW before the demand outpaces supply? (can’t we just turn off more lights in buildings too? Like my daughter’s daycare leaves all the lights on all night… many buildings s are like this)
also teh fact they have this $1000 savings is a tiny bit to seem like nuclear is an easy sell. But does NW Energy like fusion? What’s their stance? Makes it feel ike they’re saying its already a done deal.
They want fission to be THE solution since they control it now.
Fusion is left out on purpose because it’s a threat to their business model!!!
B. Gate’s Intentions with this Company…
Bill created this in 2006 alongside his philanthropy. He saw a lack of human welfare and energy. He created the company, and we hope to bring nuclear to the nations that need it, like Africa.
Okay… so, here is where we unlock the “humanitarian” angle of nuclear energy.
He creates the company under the guise of philanthropy and then pitches it as a human welfare mission so he seems benevolent. Not business. Then that image can gain government and global support without scrutiny, then expand into developing nations where regulation is weak.
If this was truly about ‘human welfare’ wouldn’t fusion be a bigger priority? or is this about getting nuclear reactors into places that will depend on their tech after?
And the fact that they say they want to go help with places like Africa and places that will rely on this, its about making entire regions dependnt on their nuclear infrastructure. IT’s just a strategy move to own energy in places that don’t have power grid control. If you own the power you own the economy.
We grew from 140 to 700 employees.
We want to be the next company to build nuclear power plants in the USA.
This is speculatively a money grab for power and domestic energy before competitors get it.
Fission is their only way since fusion isn’t viable. Then if they build enough plants in time, hey can dominate the US power supply before fusion catches up!!
They’re working to secure government-backed dominance in the energy sctor
CANCER RESEARCH on the SIDE
We also have a medical isotope lab where we ship curium (?) weekly around the world for human cancer drugs. We use them in human trials.
they’re expanding into nuclear medicine
nuclear isotopes for cancer treatment, imaging, and experimental drugs
BUILDING THE PLANTS + MECHANICS + GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Initially, there are big investment costs, but we have great support from the last administration and the new administration.
Trump said that advanced nuclear energy is a big part of America’s strategy.
it’s not about just business, its national security.
who is lobbying for this and is it about clean energy or controlling energy through public-private partnerships?
The USA is betting big on nuclear.
Bill’s biggest investment ever is $1B into this. It’s his largest private investment. It’s a public-private partnership.
Fission is profitable NOW, and he can control it - and public-private partnerships mean they can use government resources, but keep private control. This locks in domination of the nuclear future while delaying fusion!!
We have 94 nuclear plants in the USA for fission.
Here, they rotate sodium/liquefied metal as the coolant.
This proves that fission is old tech, it’s not “new” or “innovative”…. if fission was so amazing, why haven’t we built 500 more already?
They’re trying to justify the expansion, but it’s actually a reminder that it hasn’t been widely adapted.
Watch wind and solar expand, but they stress the grid because the sun and wind come and go (HELLO CHEMTRAILS!!!).
What if a cloud goes by in the middle of the day while we're all charging and using AC?
I’m just like…. okay, we all know geoeigneering is going on and it’s a factor in the infrastructure planning… they act like clouds and patterns are just random inconveniences.
I suspect they’re more being controlled than we’re led to believe
Is the clean energy crisis being manufactured, too, to help justify this expansion on nuclear energy?
Are they indirectly admitting how their weather modification affects energy? I talked about this in the other event I attended on fusion!!
Lol also they’re not even working on storage solutions!!! Just pushing nuclear as the only alternative. See!! We have no choice!!
Storage, energy, and data centers—everything can use nuclear tech.
This 700-person company is leading the future of building plants.
So, this one single company is trying to be the single supplier of the future. Eew!! It’s a monopoly in real time.
They want to make sure they own nuclear expansion before fusion is mainstream!!
PLANS TO BUILD PLANTS IN WYOMING
Look at what is coming to Wyoming.
Wyoming is super supportive of their new plant.
Even leaders of Berkshire Hathaway showed up—and Bill—for the groundbreaking ceremony.
hmmm this means finance and energy are deeply aligned.
This is a test site for nationwide expansion.
They want to build many more around the USA and in developing economies—to deploy worldwide and raise living standards.
Then tehy can decide how energy is distributed and priced worldwide. To keep developing nations dependent instead of energy-independent.
We need to bring the world out of energy poverty. We’ll be part of that.
This is a PR narrative to make corporate energy expansion look like charity. Are they really “lifting people out of energy poverty” or making them permanently reliant on corporate nuclear infrastructure?? Why not fusion instead?
Then, the next part was a fireside chat with this same guy and a new interviewer.
Two girls brought lounge chairs onto the stage for these men, but they struggled doing it. It seemed like the roles should have been reversed, or they should have offered to help, hahaha. But no. Gender equality.
I love women’s rights—but some of this stuff is silly to me. Help each other out! Haha, right? Or no? Chivalry is dead?
They don’t even ofer to help. It’s just common sense. Just help them out lol.
Just seems like, “Look!! Women are involved in this nuclear energy event! (but also, we make them carry heavy furniture onto the stage for our healthy male executives) - so weird.
"If I missed anyone in saying my thanks, it’s not because I don’t like you—it’s because I didn’t see you," says the interviewer while sitting down to start this section of the event.
Lol - what type of comment is this ? Hahah? Why say that? Did you forget someone or try to sound not-serous? Its so chaotic to start things off .hahaha.
"Let’s talk about safety. I’ve binge-watched Chernobyl four times, so I know how this goes. It might be a bad segue."
Why are you in such a power position with that obsession with disastrous nuclear events?
Do you low-key enjoy nuclear catastrophe narratives?
You’re controlling the tone and questions of this event… but why are you obsessed with nuclear disaster media? Do you want this discussion to be more disaster focused too?
Is this an inside joke among nuclear elites?
People in high positions should not be shaping energy policy based off of tv shows and Netflix obsessions.
If you’re obsessed with that show, do you view nuclear energy as dangerous - or do you like to pretend it’s scary, but then have gates’ less scary version?
Are you guys just binge-watchign and absorbing narratives instead of so much research?
Was it funny? humanizing? He sounds like a reddit comment!! And he’s a leader in nuclear energy, a billion dollar, #1 regulated industry literally shaping the future of civilization. But he comes on like “lol I watched Chernobyl 4 times”??? SIR YOU ARE TALKIGN TO ONE FO THE MOST POWERFUL ENERGY EXECUTIVES IN TEH WORLD —— if this is how high-level conversations about nuclear power are begin guided, how much of the public’s entire worldview is just being shaped by streaming services!!!?!?!??!?!!?!???!?!
Let’s talk about safety and modern myths.
Totally an okay place to start—dealing with waste as well.
In the past, we didn’t explain it well. We used too much industry wording and lingo. We didn’t explain it well.
Modern myths are wording to make fears feel irrational.
The problem was’t risk, just bad PR?
It’s important to have good understanding, design, regulation, and reform. We’ve had power plants running for over 50 years, and they’re all safe.
You can back out of one of their parking lots without needing a spotter, lol.
Why are they trying so hard to make these places sound casual?
Super chill and easygoing, so safe?
This is life-sustaining power we need. It helps us make our water and our air to breathe. (Does it? What??)
Was this weird phrasing or something deeper?
Was he talking about deslination - water purification?
Next level reference to geoengineering, air modification???
We need to tell our safety story better. Better PR not better safety.
We need to copy Finland’s lead and use a geologic depository.
This is underground, long-term nuclear waste storage in bedrock.
Bury the waste deep and forget about it - hide it.
Not reprocessing—it’s expensive trying to make fuel reusable.
In a nation with rogue actors, they could separate ingredients.
They say it’s too risky cause countries can extract bomb making materials? so instead jus bury it???
Let’s see what goes on with DOGE—are we putting people and places into the right spots to advance without waiting 40 years on review and regulation?
Six to seven years ago, we needed reform with NRC regulators. There was never credit given for benefits like emission-free electricity.
They feel its underappreciated and need more support.
Framed as “good for climate change” too.
NRC and some legislation poked them to initiate.
Then, even we celebrated when we were $1M ahead of schedule in construction.
They want to keep celebrating pushing nuclear through with less oversight.
Nuclear energy is special, and we need to review it.
special = powerful, so we need to regulate it closely.
2030 is the goal for electricity output from the Wyoming plant.
We hope to have 10-12 more plants under construction by then.
Wyoming is the new test site, but they will not slow down. They are aggressively pushing nuclear expansion under the radar.
"First, prove it in rich economies, then deploy it in poor countries with huge growing populations." – Bill G’s plan.
This is a worldwide strategy. They’re thinking about global energy dominance.
Plan to build a traveling wave reactor, especially as other facilities come offline.
This can use depleted uranium, which reduces waste but also introduces new risks.
This is their plan to do a full nuclear transition across the grid.
Though they were all designed to last 40 years, some are accepted to extend to 60... even 100 years.
Is this a good solution or leads to inevitable safety risks?
It’s a problem in the USA. We haven’t built any… China has built dozens and is getting good at it.
lol - peopel always love scaring the USA with china. Always saying, “china is beating us” and we have to keep up. But it’s like teh space race. Does the urgency benefit people? or companies?
What help do we need from students?
Labor—associates and bachelor's degrees.
We need to work with builders.
They will set up massive construction projects across he country.
They’re preparing to secure land, materials, and supply chains
This means BILLIONS in government contracts for nuclear-related construction.
The threat of carbon and climate change?
Is public opinion changing as needed? YES!
WOW!!! What a question? Lol - they need public opinion to shift in favor of nuclear to make this expansion possible. We need to get the public to buy-in first that this will “solve” climate change.
It also confirms that shaping the public’s opinion is part of their strategy. They’re tracking how peopel feel about it and celebrating that it’s more accepted. So its orchestrated?
Nuclear energy used to not be supported by Republicans, but now we have more support.
It’s become bipartisan - which is rare.
Nuclear lobby has made major progress in both parties. This is now a fully-backed government movement, not just private sector.
The tech is so doable, but the upfront investment is tough to set up. Bill G helped with this.
Bill sees that the best weather for these ions, too, is weather like Chicago. Cold - especially when it’s still.
I’m like , eew!! Is that why they’re blocking out the sun??? Making it all do dark and dreary for energy?
We also have a weak supply chain.
A Ph.D. is awesome, but it means you’re often lacking in hands-on skills.
They are openly devaluing high-level education in favor of practical skills.
This shows, once again, how technical and skilled labor are the priority lately and will continue over the next decade at least. The younger generation will be leading the way.
Again, another cry out for less academic, more trade focused. A major shift in society and education standards.
We are overeducated and lack craftiness.
I grew up in a time when the more educated you were, the better—but now, skills are becoming the value.
We are shifting from education-driven to skills-driven economy.
The unclearly industry id prioritizing technical ability over academic knowledge, so entire sectors of education may soon become less relevant and needed in the coming decades. Globally.
Fabulous for all of this to be developing right in our backyard of Washington and spread energy across the nation.
Washington state is a major hub for this movement.
Wrap Up/spoiler alert.
So the end of this was very interesting. I talked with two girls working in the industry. I started off making a joke to one, cause she told me she works in Fission.
So I said, oh, maybe in teh future you’ll go work with someone like these guys or a fusion company, too - help them build that. Since they said a lot of the work is transfirable.
I jsut thought it was cool to hear that so much in these industries is similar so it won’t be too hard to train peopel to take on this new tech. It was nice to hear - so I assumed if you work in fission, OF COURSE you’d want to work in Fusion next, like the company that just presented.
but she totally doesn’t even think fusion is an issue to be concerned about anytime soon. She was like, no it won’t be around for another decade at least.
AND then she was like, uh, no… they (the company that just presented) work in fission too. But she said it a lot nicer. and then I was like - wait… what??? This even is hype about fission? You guys are hype about fission? But of course fusion is the gold metal, right?
Okay - so lemme reexplain this all now, and explain the point… the whole speech above, I just didn’t pay the closest attendtion and I was thinking it was about developing fusion plants. But then talking to her I realized they were talking about fission. Then I was like, wait… what? Why are people talking about fission when fusion is the future???
Why was this speech all jsut about fission? Isn’t that just sorta a medium-important technology, but fusion is the exciting emerging future?
So then I talked a lot with Ai about this, to try and understand what this event was that I’d just went to - rereading my notes, it’s all about fission. Thats when we went through all lf my notes and the event description and some of the facts and realized - yeah!! This is fission city that I Just learned about.
BUT from what I”ve learned lately, FUSION is the exciting new future. Fission has so many policies, regulations, it’s so slow moving.
So then I talked with Ai a lot and we kinda figured out maybe something crazy is going on… like. the Fission world is completely in denial (or at least a bit/lot) about how serious and amazing Fusion is going to be. Fusion is the future and will knock out so much of our power needs ( I think). So… it makes sense that I was confused about this. like… why the hype about fission? When it’s not that essential of a technology. I made the analogy it’s like getting a huge marketing campaign going about the gameboy… not knowing the gameboy color will be announced like two weeks later. so its like, why put all this work into something that’s the less verison of whats coming.
And I know that hydrogen and fusion tech is still not 100% figured out, so they say, but you can look all into that. there are a lot of theories. And even the people in that industry talking about it say they’ve got it basically mastered, what’s holding them up is just timeframes and just creating things. Not the money. They just need to be allowed to move forward and keep moving forward.
So, I just think it was intersting to experience this - meeting fission-heavy people, and then also being in an audience where they’re telling peopel how amazing and important and misunderstood nuclear fission energy is, and why we shoudl invest in it and how its B. Gate’s #1 top ever investment… but also, its just like, “one option” that may end up being a huge flop i’m realizing… so yeah!! THey’re trying super hard to keep it relevant? Or it is? But idk - I’m a fangirl of fusion.
So yeah (lol look at me saying “so” almost every sentence of this section.. just, yeah, it was a strange part of this. Where the whole event was hype about fission, but i’m like “guys… uh… isn’t fusion the future for sure? Especially with this administration and all these truths/conspiracy/rumors coming out?” but let’s see.
Elaboration on Event Reviews:
Venue (4.5/5):
Room for Improvement: Besides the fact I went to the wrong location initially (the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce: which’s office was 100% unlocked and unoccupied from what I saw hahahah omg). But this hotel/venue is TOO cool and I’m literally hanging out still in it now to write. It is awesome and trendy. Great for this event (thoughhh it could have used a higher stage, make it easier to see the presenters and even the screens were too low, so the PPT Decks were cut off for me from the back where I sat.
Food (5/5)
Allow me to Elaborate: Minus the fact that I always eat full fledge chicken that you have to cut so much at these events hahahah Chicken is always on the menu!! But still, extremely delicious and healthy. Salad, chicken (though the leg/thigh, not the most nutritious cut), mashed potatoes, broccoli, and then a cute chocolate dessert - and then I ate my neighbors too after she left cause she didn’t even eat hers. hahahahahah. Sorry not sorrryyyyyyyyyyy. 😂
Speaker Content (4/5)
Room for Improvement: Okay, so I’m not an energy expert… but I really get the feeling/understanding that fission is a bit of the past and fusion is the future. So, this guy didn’t acknowledge that at all and he just had a lot to say. So, in some ways he really revealed a lot - and it was truly interesting, but he didn’t’ leave time for a Q&A and… he skipped out on fusion coming domination of the energy sector that I foresee. Maybe not “tomorrow” but soon.
Networking (4/5)
Room For Improvement: I guess tehy could have added more games and topics, but it was actually a pretty good event for networking. Lots of time before and after. Some people literally met for hours after. And I met some nice women at this event too. They taught me a lot , and even their reactions to some of my jokes and comments at first were so confusing to me - but later revealed the state of the energy world hahaha. So, idk - it was cool and I like learning more in this sector. Slowly meeting a person or two in it.
Likeliness to Return (4/5)
Room For Improvement: The venue (the W Hotel) was a lot better than the Chamber of Commerce office hahahahaha. Omg. But it is a little far. And you can’t have a laptop at this event, it’s not “that kind of event” so its the tiniest bit annoying, but also it was still awesome, amazing food, amazing venue - and fascinating topic. I really like this group and what they bring - though I may not agree with it all. Happy to absorb the info and share it here!!!
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
