World Class Research. 2000 Hours. Your Input

France operates 56 nuclear reactors. China has 32 under construction. The UK plans its largest nuclear expansion in decades. Yet most infrastructure intelligence platforms still treat these regions as afterthoughts.

In 2024, a European infrastructure fund committed £400m ($508m, €480m) to a nuclear adjacency strategy. Their due diligence relied on publicly available data. Six months later, satellite analysis revealed their primary target site had stalled. The information was visible from orbit. Their research methodology missed it.

When Epoch AI launched their Frontier Data Centers Hub last year, they validated our approach. Satellite intelligence for infrastructure monitoring works. Their methodology tracks data centre construction. Ours tracks nuclear facilities. The convergence is not coincidental.

World-class infrastructure intelligence is becoming essential. Our World in Data transformed development metrics through transparency. The World Nuclear Association established rigorous performance standards. Epoch AI brought institutional credibility to AI infrastructure tracking.

We built atlas.vistergy.com on identical principles. Transparent methodology. Verifiable data. Rigorous standards. This quarter, we commit over 2000 hours to expanding our capabilities.

This article explains what separates world-class from basic. More importantly, we want your input on priorities.

The nuclear sector generates vast operational data. The IAEA PRIS database tracks 416 reactors across 32 countries. WANO coordinates performance indicators across 130 members operating 460 civil reactors. The Curtiss-Wright Nuclear Directory provides comprehensive facility specifications.

What remains missing is the integration layer that serves infrastructure decision-makers.

Epoch AI recognised this gap for data centres. Their Frontier Data Centers Hub combines satellite imagery, permit data, and power consumption estimates. The result: construction detection eight months before public announcements.

Our approach applies similar rigour to nuclear infrastructure. Thermal signatures indicate operational status. Grid substation patterns reveal commissioning timelines. Construction progress tracking validates operator claims. The methodology matters as much as the data.

Most infrastructure databases optimise for comprehensiveness over insight. They catalogue facilities without analysing relationships. They report historical data without detecting emerging patterns.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report provides excellent annual analysis but publishes once per year. Government sources vary dramatically in accessibility across jurisdictions. Commercial databases charge substantial fees for static snapshots.

World-class research organisations solve this differently. Our World in Data publishes methodology alongside findings. Epoch AI open-sources their detection algorithms. The WNA subjects performance data to peer review. Transparency builds trust. Rigour enables verification.

We follow these standards because shortcuts destroy credibility faster than features build it.

Three principles distinguish world-class infrastructure intelligence.

Multi-Source Verification: No single data source tells complete stories. IAEA PRIS provides operational statistics. Grid operators publish interconnection data. Satellite imagery shows physical reality. Integrating these sources reveals insights none provides alone. Epoch AI combines permits, imagery, and power estimates. Our nuclear tracking follows identical logic.

Temporal Intelligence: Static databases report what has happened. World-class platforms detect what is happening. China's 32 reactors represent £27bn ($34bn, €32bn) in active investment. Traditional reporting lags physical reality by months. Satellite monitoring closes that gap.

Geographic Rigour: Asia-Pacific delivered 56 of 68 reactor commissions over the past decade. World Nuclear Association data confirms this pattern. Western-centric databases systematically underweight the regions driving deployment.

Most infrastructure platforms develop in isolation. Product teams decide priorities based on internal assumptions. Users discover capabilities only after launch.

Epoch AI took a different approach. They published methodology papers alongside their data hub. They invited scrutiny. They built credibility through transparency.

We follow the same model. This article represents our research agenda shared openly. Community members help shape what we investigate. Poll results directly influence quarterly priorities.

The 2000 hours we are committing this quarter will expand our facility coverage, enhance our automated pipelines, and strengthen our verification protocols. The specific allocations depend partly on what you tell us matters most.

Infrastructure intelligence is gaining regulatory recognition. The IAEA's 2025 AI Symposium addressed digital monitoring applications, including satellite verification of construction progress.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation has engaged with remote monitoring capabilities. France's ASN has explored thermal analysis for operational assessment. These developments validate the methodology we have built.

World-class research anticipates regulatory needs rather than reacting to them. Our verification protocols align with emerging standards because we designed them that way.

Three commitments guide our research programme.

Methodology First: Every capability we build includes published methodology. Users can verify our approaches. Competitors can attempt to replicate them. Transparency is a feature, not a vulnerability.

Community Direction: Poll results influence resource allocation. Subscriber feedback shapes interface decisions. We build for infrastructure decision-makers, not for ourselves.

Global Standards: Research coverage reflects actual deployment patterns. Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Middle East expansion proceed in proportion to regional nuclear activity. American examples complement rather than dominate.

For institutional investors, world-class methodology supports due diligence requirements. Verifiable data satisfies compliance obligations. Transparent approaches enable independent validation.

For hyperscalers, rigorous facility intelligence reduces site selection risk. Multi-source verification catches discrepancies that single-source databases miss. Temporal intelligence provides decision-relevant timelines.

For policymakers, independent monitoring supports accountability. The methodology that serves investors also serves public interest. World-class research creates multiple beneficiaries.

Epoch AI proved satellite infrastructure intelligence works for data centres. We proved it works for nuclear. The methodology that detects construction changes eight months early does not care which industry ignores it.

Over 2000 hours this quarter. Community-directed priorities. Transparent methodology.

Vote in the poll above. Help shape what world-class nuclear intelligence becomes.

Next week: The 250,000 Worker Gap: Nuclear's Hidden Crisis

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