Nuclear power

I mean, these are people in charge of a technology which they're looking to float on the stock exchange at the same time, acknowledging it could destroy us all.

I mean, it's as though Oppenheimer nuclear power was in the hands of an individual.

Absolutely.

And, you know, I you know, I always say the little black book of artificial intelligence was we just published it too soon.

Yeah, I mentioned earlier the nuclear comparison.

You know, it's as almost as if during the development of nuclear weapons, as though Oppenheimer was working for a PLC, as we'd call it in the UK, or for a corporation in the United States, and that it was in competition with perhaps another private company.

nuclear power developer in Russia.

And these companies were saying, well, look, nuclear power has a good end here.

Um, Professor Lee, uh, Jong-Ik Lee, um, is joining us from KAIST, from the MIT of, uh, Korea, the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, where he is professor in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering.

Um, he leads the Nuclear Power and Propulsion Laboratory.

Uh, we were having a very spirited discussion, he and Brent Sadler, about small modular nuclear reactors before we came up to this, uh, dais.

Um, but, uh, he is, uh, an MIT trained nuclear engineer, specializes in small and micro modular reactors, um, advanced nuclear power systems, nuclear propulsion.

So really, uh, delighted to have Professor Lee here to talk about some of these issues.

And then last but not least, uh, Brent Sadler, who's Senior Research Fellow for Naval Warfare in Advanced Technology at the Heritage Foundation, a retired US Navy captain, 26 years of service, including operational tours aboard nuclear powered submarines, and extensive Asia, uh, tours.

Um, although he couldn't reveal where he was actually located, right? [laughs] Um, but Brent-

Underwater.

Uh, uh, my name is Matt Boyce, and I'm a senior fellow here at Hudson.

Uh, today it is my special honor and pleasure to w-- moderate this distinguished panel on nuclear energy in Europe, uh, with a focus more on the eastern flank of NATO, where, uh, basically every, every coun- every government is engaged in upgrading its nuclear, uh, program in one way or another.

Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic are modernizing their infras-- uh, their existing infrastructure.

Uh, Poland is starting a nuclear program from scratch after relying on its own plentiful hydr- hydrocarbon and other resources.

And it is really in the, uh, very much in the US interest for Europe to have strong and competitive economies, which means deploying more nuclear, uh, power in their energy, uh, mixes.

Now, uh, twenty-first century economies of course rely on more, uh, more on electricity as industry and consumers have voracious appetites, uh, that are only growing with the growth of AI, um, and, um, and this power, however, must be affordable and, and those that do not adapt will face the consequences.

So, um, every, uh, everyone knows our distinguished panelists from the invitation, um, and, um, each is an outstanding expert on eastern flank or on nuclear energy.

Uh, Martin Vladimirov from, uh, Bulgaria's best think tank, the, uh, Center for the S- Study of Democracy, Katie Stranges from the premier American nuclear energy infrastructure firm, Westinghouse, as well as Stephen Comello from the Energy Futures Initiative Foundation and Victoria Barra from the Clean Air Task Force, the latter two high, highly respected US groups that deal with aspects of nuclear energy.