Ernest Moniz

Sergei says, "Ciao, Matt.

Can you clarify that point the US secretary made?" So he's talking about that interview we did with the former US Energy secretary, Ernie Moniz.

Sergey's asking if you can clarify the point he makes in the episode that 60% enriched uranium isn't considered weapons grade, but that it can be used in a nuclear bomb.

Is that what's called a dirty bomb? Cheers, Sergey from Canberra.

Meanwhile, the IAEA says it's observed construction activity at Iran's Pickaxe Mountain site, which is suspected of housing nuclear-related activities.

Joining us now is Ernest Moniz, the former US Secretary of Energy, former CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

He is now the CEO of the Energy Futures, uh, Initiative.

Secretary Moniz, thank you very much for being with us once again.

Mr.

Secretary, thank you very much.

That's Ernest Moniz joining us, uh, on this Saturday morning.

He's now the CEO of the Energy Futures Initiative, uh, and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute, uh, of Technology.

All right.

Well, another couple of key characters in this story are from the U.S. Department of Energy, including then-Secretary Ernie Moniz, because Cleanline realized that despite its best efforts to cut lease deals with hundreds of property owners- along the route of the proposed lines, really just a handful of owners who wouldn't play ball could actually sink the entire project.

And so, as you mentioned a few minutes ago, Cleanline sought eminent domain authority from the DOE to overcome those final hurdles.

But even though DOE did ultimately grant them that authority, it was really too late by that time, wasn't it? So I think the main lesson from that sideshow, or at least the one that I took away, is that bureaucratic delay can really be deadly.

I'll give you one example.

Ernie Moniz was our secretary of energy in the Iran nuclear negotiations.

He was a nuclear physicist.

The guy who was negotiating with Ernie Moniz, who ran their nuclear program, went to MIT with him, and is a leading international nuclear scientist.

Yeah.

Like, the Iranians, I mean, y- you know, there are 94 million people in Iran.