Since the 1960s, we’ve known that light water nuclear reactors weren’t the only way to generate electricity by splitting the atom. One alternative design, so-called “molten salt reactors,” were more complicated, but potentially much more safe and economical. Copenhagen Atomics is one company betting it all that the future of nuclear energy is molten salt, molten salt made from an element even more abundant than uranium: thorium. Noted Nuclear Zaddy Kyle Hill travels to Denmark in Part One of a Thorium MSR adventure.

In early January 2025 I got to sit down for a short interview with Bill Gates. My goal was to probe one of the most successful people in history about everything from the current state of the information age, to AI, to why the nerds (himself included) “won.”

If Thorium molten salt reactors (MSRs) offer a safer, more efficient, and more scalable alternative to traditional nuclear power, then why isn’t there a single commercial reactor in operation today? In Part 2 of our Thorium adventure, noted Nuclear Zaddy Kyle Hill travels to Denmark to see firsthand why bringing this decades-old technology to market remains an uphill battle for Copenhagen Atomics and other companies attempting to change nuclear energy forever.

Mass Effect is known for its incorporation of real world space science, more so than most other sci-fi games. This certainly has pleased the ‘sci-fientists’ of science and gaming enthusiasts like model scientist Salarian Zaddy, Kyle Hill. But, there’s a problem. For nearly 20 years now, one of the most critical and important Mass Effect mechanics has been WRONG. The gravity systems on ‘The Citadel’ just don’t add up. Let’s break it down and figure out why!

Could you see a nuclear explosion on the moon with the naked eye? That was the question posed by the United States military in the 1950s as the cold war was heating up and the space race between the US and the Soviet Union was in full swing. Project A119, details of which were declassified in 2000, tasked scientists to “safely” target and hit the moon with a nuclear weapon in order to send a message to the USSR. We only discovered the details of this unconventional and bizarre plan 40 years later, via a posthumous biography…of the greatest science communicator to ever live: Carl Sagan. This episode of [HALF-LIFE HISTORIES] explores the true story of the plan to nuke the moon.

Deep in the deserts of Idaho sits a giant box. It was made for nuclear science. It’s the most radioactive room on Earth. It’s Idaho National Laboratory’s Hot Fuel Examination Facility. I peered through its leaded windows in June, 2024. This is what I saw, and why.

Between 1980 and 1989, four people between two young families would die of leukemia. The connection? They all lived in the same room in an apartment building in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. This episode of [HALF-LIFE HISTORIES] explains how a single misplaced capsule became one of history’s worst orphan source accidents.

In February 2025 I got to visit Terrapower, a self-proclaimed nuclear innovation company. In part one of this sponsored series, you will see the science behind turning nuclear waste into cancer medication. In part two, we will explore and explain what will be the first next-generation nuclear reactor to operate in the United States.

A new movement aimed at poisoning A.I. models like ChatGPT has gained traction after hackers have been attempting to trap said models in a never ending ‘Tar Pit’ of nonsense. After reading an Ars Technica interview, I tracked down a hacker developing tools to poison AI training data. Tools such as ‘Nepenthes’ are designed to confuse and corrupt the models that scrape the internet for their learning. But can we really stop A.I. from turning the web into a mess of low-quality, regurgitated slop?

In February 2025 I got to visit Terrapower, a self-proclaimed nuclear innovation company. In part one of this sponsored series, you saw the science behind turning nuclear waste into cancer medication. Here in part two, we will explore and explain what will be the first next-generation nuclear reactor to operate in the United States.

The Three Mile Island nuclear generating station experienced disaster in 1979, then shutdown in 2019. Today, the plant is scheduled for an unprecedented restart in 2028. Thanks to Microsoft and its AI datacenters, the power plant is rising from the ashes of a communication meltdown, and I’m taking you inside.

No video game series fulfills your desire to rip and tear quite like DOOM. But over the years, ripping and tearing has gotten a lot more epic. In DOOM ETERNAL you even use the BFG to tear into A PLANET. What would it take to do this? How much energy would it take? Noted bicep enthusiast Kyle Hill explains.

In Russia in 1997, an unfortunate technician answered the question, “what would have happened if the ‘Demon Core’ was never stopped in 1946?”

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is yet another good sci-fi movie from Chirstopher Nolan, but it gets one thing totally wrong: nuclear fusion. Why does a film from a director that consults with Nobel Prize winners get fundamental physics so wrong? Noted Nuclear Zaddy and Bane impression enjoyer Kyle Hill explains.

It’s hard to believe but space elevators have been theorized about for over a century. The physics are solid and the concept of these megastructures towering above us is so damn cool. But, there’s one 35,786km problem that’s just about holding us back from living the Halo or Star Wars inspired space elevator dreams. Noted orbiting Zaddy Kyle Hill explains why you won’t be riding one with Elon or Katy Perry anytime soon.

In June 2025 I was not only asked to speak at the International Atomic Energy Agency (!), I got the extremely rare opportunity to tour the INSIDE of a nuclear cooling tower. Join me in Slovakia as we explain the genius engineering of the most iconic structure in the nuclear industry.

In December 2024, top scientists warned that ‘Mirror Life’, the hypothetical opposite of life itself with reversed chirality could pose a new existential threat that could eventually end in the extinction of all life on Earth. This isn’t science fiction, this is a very possible and chilling reality of unimaginable consequences of the very real risk of a complete evolutionary reboot. Is it finally time to ask ourselves if some things are better left unknown? Kyle Hill explains.

What is the most harmful thing humans ever invented? Many people would say the Kalisnikov and its many variants. Others would say nuclear weapons. But neither of these even come close to the toll on human life this one object taken – maybe the single biggest threat to human health there is.

The METAL GEAR SOLID series is famous for many futuristic ideas. Nanomachines, AI-generated media, invisible camouflage. But what about nuclear policy? Do nuclear-armed walking tanks make any sense? I got an actual historian of nuclear weapons to answer that question and more!

At exactly 6:06PM on July 24th, 1964, a 38-year-old father of nine poured what he thought was 11 liters of solvent into a mixing tank. What followed was the worst radiological accident in the US nuclear industry's history. This [HALF-LIFE HISTORY] is the true story of the Wood River Junction criticality accident.

In 1957, Samuel Glasstone and Philip J. Dolan produced THE definitive text on the effects of nuclear explosions. Inside this tome was something of a collectors item that nuclear enthusiasts have been hunting for decades: a PHYSICAL nuclear bomb computer. Thanks to Ebay, I finally have one. This is how it works.

Nuclear is finally looking up from an informal “keep your head down” policy. However, it’s bringing with it a relic – a part of safety culture that is actually too safe to be practical at a time when it seems like a new reactor is being commissioned every day. What the public doesn’t know is that the fundamental assumption of radiation safety and regulation simply isn’t true. This is the case against Linear No-Threshold.