Supply-Chain Bottlenecks, Codification Creep, and Mission-Driven Incentives

In the 28th installment of The Atomic Exchange Podcast, co-hosts Dr. Goran Calic and Michael Tadrous welcome their first ever guest, Scott MacKinnon, Senior Director of Logistics & Supply-Chain Network Integration at EtherLog°. Scott recounts how Goran’s McMaster talk on “why standardization can slow nuclear builds” sparked a pub-side debate that now becomes a full episode on logistics. The trio unpack codification creep, ask why 75 % of craft labour often waits idle, and probe whether just-in-time delivery really fits multi-gigawatt projects or if local buffers and “zero-trust” micro-measurement are safer bets. They model a hypothetical four-unit program, debate which chokepoint (reactor pressure vessels, grid gear or regulatory sign-offs) most threatens a schedule, and swap ideas for Apollo-style medals, pain-and-gain contracts, and 100 % completion bonuses to turn nuclear megaprojects into a true mission. Tune in for supply-chain stories, systems thinking, and a fresh lens on how logistics could shave years (and billions) off the next reactor build.