In every issue of the FJI Report, we share stories from the people helping shape our business community. Print space only allows us to include highlights. Here is the full conversation with Greg Piefer, Founder and CEO of SHINE Technologies. This extended version of our "How Did I Get Here?" feature includes additional questions, stories, and insights that didn't make it into the magazine.
Thinking back to younger days, as a kid or even in high school, what did you want to be when you grew up?
In middle school, I was the kid skipping recess to read about particle accelerators in the library. I was fascinated by the idea that you could take physics and actually build machines that would change things for people.
I grew up during a time when energy shortages were becoming a concern. Even to a kid, it seemed obvious that energy was a constraint on what humanity could do. When I started reading about nuclear fusion — about how the fuel supply is essentially unlimited, how it powers every star in the universe — I thought, well, that’s the thing that changes everything. I wanted to be a part of making that happen.
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How did your studies at UW-Madison impact your life and set the stage for your professional career?
UW-Madison changed the trajectory of my life. I took a class called Resources from Space that was taught by two people who had lived incredibly inspiring lives. One was Gerry Kulcinski, who ran the Fusion Technology Institute at UW. The other was Harrison “Jack” Schmitt — an Apollo 17 astronaut, the only scientist to ever walk on the moon. They had this idea that you could go into space, bring resources back to Earth, and create tremendous value. The section of that class that really interested me was about nuclear fusion.
Gerry invited me to work for him at the Fusion Technology Institute as a grad student. The Fusion Technology Institute’s whole mission was different from most fusion programs. Their assumption was, if the physics are figured out, how do you actually engineer a working machine? That engineering-first mindset is really what shaped SHINE’s entire approach.
What were some of the early business lessons you learned as you launched a new nuclear technology company?
A big lesson I learned is that you cannot outsource execution. I originally thought we could focus on developing the technology and hand over the construction, equipment fabrication, and manufacturing to others.
We found that the traditional vendors in the nuclear space were comfortable with things taking a long time and costing a lot more than they should, which was unacceptable to us. So we built our own manufacturing capability. For anything that requires innovation, we make it ourselves. For standard parts, we found that working with modern commercial vendors and then qualifying their work for nuclear service ourselves was actually faster, cheaper, and often higher quality than relying on the old methods.
That lesson — that you have to own the hard parts yourself if you want them done right — has shaped everything about how we operate today.
Other nuclear fusion companies are chasing the “holy grail” of fusion energy. You have differentiated SHINE by taking a step-wise approach. Why did you choose that route?
Fusion energy is going to be transformative, but making it affordable enough to actually change the world is going to take a lot of practice and investment.
Instead of trying to leap straight to fusion power, we asked a different question: where can fusion create real value right now? We can use fusion to inspect critical parts for the defense and aerospace industries. We can use it to produce medical isotopes that the world desperately needs. We can even use it to recycle nuclear waste and turn it into fuel for energy.
Other technology companies have done this kind of thing before — computer chips, electric vehicles, and now even rocket ships. Companies start with a product they can sell now and use that to get better at building the next technology. As they get better, costs come down. As costs come down, they can take on bigger challenges.
That’s why I believe our approach is the fastest path to get to affordable fusion energy -- we’re building real businesses and real expertise along the way.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced a $263 million conditional commitment to SHINE. What does that mean for the company and for Janesville?
It’s a big deal! The DOE has been a long-term partner of ours. This conditional commitment will fund the completion of Chrysalis and help us scale up isotope production to meet the growing global demand for these medicines.
For Janesville specifically, it means Chrysalis gets finished and becomes fully operational. That means more jobs, more economic activity, and a facility that’s going to be producing medicine for decades. Over its lifetime, Chrysalis has the capacity to produce a billion doses of medicine.
It’s also a signal to the rest of the country. When the Department of Energy makes a commitment like this, it tells the market that what we’re doing is a national priority. The isotopes we produce are used in tens of millions of medical procedures every year, and the old reactors that used to make them are aging out. The world needs a new, reliable source. That’s what we’re building here.
This investment will generate returns right here in southern Wisconsin. The infrastructure isn’t leaving. The talent isn’t leaving. And I believe the success of this company is going to help catalyze an even broader manufacturing and startup ecosystem in this region.
How do you balance life/family and career?
That is a constant work in progress! Moments with family keep me grounded. I recently watched the Artemis II launch with our daughter. I was so glad to share that with her.
When there’s time in the summer, I feel at peace on the lake with my family. There’s not a lot of time for hobbies right now, but that’s okay. The work matters, and we’re at an incredibly exciting point in the company’s journey.
What are some other fun facts about you?
I played trombone in the UW Marching Band.
I’m really proud of the things we make, and I think they should have names that mean something. Take our isotope production facility, Chrysalis, for example. A chrysalis is a state of transformation in nature — where a creature that's typically considered not all that beautiful turns into something extraordinary, like a butterfly. Inside that facility, we will take material that was once intended to be part of nuclear weapons and turn it into medicine.
And our name SHINE itself holds important meaning. It started as a technical acronym, but the word fits everything we do. In our testing business, we illuminate defects that would make things unsafe. In medicine, we’re illuminating disease. And ultimately, when we get to fusion energy, we’ll be illuminating the world.