Ed McGinnis of Curio on Why Nuclear “Waste” Is America’s Greatest Energy Asset

Описание: Nuclear energy is having a long-overdue moment. Electricity demand is rising rapidly, advanced reactors are moving closer to deployment, and the United States is sitting on a massive stockpile of spent nuclear fuel with no scalable solution in place.

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth sits down with Ed McGinnis, President and CEO of Curio, to challenge one of the most entrenched assumptions in clean energy: that nuclear waste is an unsolvable problem.

With more than three decades of experience across the U.S. Department of Energy, the White House, and national security institutions, McGinnis brings a rare, systems-level perspective to the conversation. Today, he leads Curio, a company working to recycle spent nuclear fuel, dramatically reduce long-term waste volumes, and fuel the next generation of advanced reactors.

The discussion reframes spent nuclear fuel as a largely untapped national asset. McGinnis explains how U.S. policy decisions dating back decades sidelined recycling, why only a small fraction of nuclear fuel’s energy is ever used, and how modern recycling approaches could strengthen energy security, decarbonization, and supply chain independence at the same time.

Key themes include:

Why spent nuclear fuel still contains enormous energy and economic value
How Curio’s NuCycle® process differs from legacy recycling methods
The role nuclear recycling can play in advanced reactors and AI-driven electricity demand
How recycling can reduce long-term storage requirements from hundreds of thousands of years to centuries
Why vertical integration across recycling, fuel supply, and reactors matters for nuclear’s future
McGinnis also discusses Curio’s recent milestones, including national laboratory validation of its technology, strategic partnerships, and progress toward commercial-scale deployment.

This episode offers a grounded, pragmatic look at how nuclear energy can move beyond stalled policy and legacy assumptions to become a cornerstone of a resilient, clean, and secure energy system.

Links:

Ed McGinnis on LinkedIn:   / edward-mcginnis-05121813  
Curio's Website: https://curio.energy/#aboutabookpodcast

To book this guest on your podcast or news program, please contact Brian Hyland at Cricket Public Relations:
www.cricketpr.com
[email protected]
(201) 410-4563

Host:
Wes Ashworth:   / weslgs  
Email: [email protected]
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