{"podcast":{"title":"Catalyst with Shayle Kann","slug":"catalyst-with-shayle-kann-4458041","podcast_index_feed_id":4458041,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/catalyst","website_url":"https://www.latitudemedia.com/podcasts/catalyst","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/d2f3b172-3bc3-11ec-a455-6f999fef6a5d/image/91b6eaa70e6ec9b2be5275786995350c.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Latitude Media","episode_count":257,"summary":"Investor Shayle Kann is asking big questions about how to decarbonize the planet: How cheap can clean energy get? Will artificial intelligence speed up climate solutions? Where is the smart money going into climate technologies? Every week on Catalyst, Shayle explains the world of climate tech with prominent experts, investors, researchers, and executives. Produced by Latitude Media.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catalyst-with-shayle-kann-4458041"},"episode":{"title":"A blueprint for scalable fusion power","slug":"a-blueprint-for-scalable-fusion-power","published_at":"2026-05-21T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catalyst-with-shayle-kann-4458041/a-blueprint-for-scalable-fusion-power","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catalyst-with-shayle-kann-4458041","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PSMI5660874498.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PSMI5660874498.mp3","summary":"For years, the prospect of commercial nuclear fusion felt a long way off. But recent breakthroughs—like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s historic 2022 net energy gain—have marked a new chapter in the quest for fusion. Proving the physics in a lab, however, is a lot different than building a power plant that can compete on the open grid. Massive hurdles remain across physics, financing, and scaling. In this episode, host Shayle Kann sits down with Carrie von Muench, COO of Pacific Fusion and a former venture capitalist. Carrie brings a unique, investor-minded perspective to this singular challenge. Shayle and Carrie dive into topics like: Net facility gain, and the difference between breaking even at a target level versus breaking even across a facility’s tech stack. The distinctions between steady-state and inertial fusion Why Pacific Fusion is focused on building modular reactors The company’s strategy of utilizing widely accessible commodities like oil, plastic, metal, and water instead of specialized materials that rely on shaky supply chains. Unpacking the “ignition cliff;”the point at which a nuclear reactor shifts from relying on outside inputs to producing energy itself Why Pacific Fusion emulated pharma's multi-tranche funding strategies to create milestones around capital deployments and de-risk its early execution Resources ⁠Catalyst⁠⁠: Is nuclear fusion getting close? Catalyst: The state and future of nuclear waste Catalyst: Building a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain Open Circuit: Inside Meta’s massive nuclear push Latitude Media: ARPA-E awards record $135 million to speed commercial fusion energy Latitude Media: General Fusion’s $1 billion deal and the return of the SPAC Latitude Media: Trump Media’s bizarre fusion play for TAE Technologies Credi…","meta_description":"For years, the prospect of commercial nuclear fusion felt a long way off. But recent breakthroughs—like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s historic…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2435,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/catalyst-with-shayle-kann-4458041/episodes/a-blueprint-for-scalable-fusion-power/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catalyst-with-shayle-kann-4458041/a-blueprint-for-scalable-fusion-power.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}