BREAKING | Nuclear Race to Power AI: Valar Atomics, Fuse, Not Boring
Energy = Superintelligence
Powering Superintelligence
Isaiah Taylor (Valar Atomics), JC Btaiche (Fuse), & (Not Boring) join Sourcery to explore how nuclear energy - fission and fusion - is at the heart of America's industrial resurgence and the race for AI dominance.
→ Listen on X, Spotify, YouTube, Apple
Isaiah unpacks Valar’s plan to scale modular fission reactors across the U.S., breaking decades of regulatory stagnation and reimagining how America powers its factories and data centers. JC shares Fuse’s rapid-fire progress in fusion technology, from breakthroughs in pulse neutron generation to vertical integration strategies that echo SpaceX. Packy ties it all together with insights from his investing & writing in Nuclear through Not Boring, explaining why energy-rich, hardware-driven businesses will define the AI age.
Bonus we talk about Packy’s banger essay The Great Differentiation.
We dive into:
Fission & fusion, atoms to AI, & Detroit to D.C.
The role of next-gen nuclear in energy sovereignty
The strategic urgency to outpace China
Regulatory tailwinds post-EOs & DOE testing
Why AI’s energy demands are the catalyst
How differentiated brand, design, & execution will define the winners in an AI slop world
This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit.
Highlights
(00:00) The American Atomic Age
(01:15) Isaiah Taylor on U.S. nuclear industry
(03:34) Why modular reactors are the key to scale
(06:47) China’s nuclear lead
(08:32) Valar’s path to criticality & DOE testing
(11:06) Foreign funding & misinformation campaigns
(13:01) Nuclear waste myths: “It wouldn’t fill an Olympic pool”
(15:29) Why Gen IV reactors are meltdown-proof
(17:29) AI as a tailwind for nuclear infrastructure
(19:21) Misconceptions in nuclear & energy performance
(21:13) Pressure to deliver in this presidency term
(22:59) The future of global energy
(24:26) JC Btaiche: Building the world’s highest-power pulse system
(26:41) Fuse’s strategy: revenue today, power tomorrow
(28:34) Fusion’s role in reindustrialization
(33:12) The AI-power constraint: “Energy = Intelligence”
(35:31) Can we catch up to China in energy?
(38:13) Packy McCormick on vertical integration
(41:11) The Great Differentiation: Why brand matters in the age of AI
The American Atomic Age
Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics
“If you think about what's happening over the next a hundred years in manufacturing and reindustrialization, we're essentially taking what was an extremely labor heavy industry into being an energy heavy industry.” Isaiah
NEW: Shawn Ryan Show | Isaiah Taylor - Trump Orders Nuclear Expert to Activate 3 Reactors by July 2026
JC Btaiche, CEO of Fuse
“Reflecting on the Reindustrialize Summit, I keep thinking of the American Dream: the American Dream is still being built with technologists, policymakers, and capitalists coming together. Honored to have shared how Fuse is pushing the Atomic Age agenda.” - JC
Packy McCormick, Not Boring
“If there's all this AI slop out there & there's all this sameness, then like, that just creates this like very big opportunity to do different stuff..
One of the reasons that I like investing in this type of company & writing about this type of company is because there's just this like built in marketing & passion that people have that I don't think you can get with a lot of other types of companies.” Packy
If you need a primer on Nuclear, look no further than
’s award winning writing & his podcast with Julia DeWahl on Nuclear.PS: The Great Differentiation is a must read.
ICYMI (!!)
READ: American Power, Mike Solana | scott nolan, general matter, & the resurrection of america’s nuclear enrichment capacity; from el segundo to paducah, a history of decline & rebirth
Brought to you by:
Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel.
As a Sourcery subscriber you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → brex.com/sourcery
Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance, and enable enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery
Kalshi—The largest prediction market & the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events (sports, politics, weather, AI, etc).
Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost.