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The power to change nuclear waste into cost-efficient energy
Entrepreneur Russell Wilcox (AB 1989, MBA 1995) envisions creating clean energy from the world’s stockpiles of nuclear waste at a price cheaper than coal. He is building Transatomic Power, a startup based on innovative MIT technology that converts spent nuclear fuel to electricity using a safer and less expensive approach than traditional nuclear power, while cutting waste by 95 percent.
During a family trip around the world in 2011, Wilcox saw how those who lacked access to electricity had poor quality of life in regions of India and Africa. While visiting Japan, the earthquake hit that overwhelmed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Although Wilcox did not know it at the time, that disaster would lead him to his next business—Transatomic Power—which he hopes will transform the energy sector.
“I’m not sure how the human race is going to meet its energy needs, without cooking the planet, if we don’t find some solution like this,” says Wilcox, an entrepreneur whose first venture was E Ink, the company that created the display technology for the Kindle, Nook, and other popular e-readers. With their easy-on-the-eyes screens, long battery life, and ability to store hundreds of titles, the devices launched the e-book revolution that transformed book publishing. After that experience, Wilcox says, "I was looking for a project that would have an impact on the world."
(Published April 2014)
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