Watt it Takes: Deep Fission Co-Founder & CEO Liz Muller

Oct 13, 2026

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1:15

Liz Muller,

Deep Fission

Liz Muller is the Co-Founder and CEO of Deep Fission, a company building an underground nuclear energy system designed to dramatically cut the cost and timeline of building nuclear power.

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In this conversation, Liz walks through the path that led her to Deep Fission: growing up in Berkeley, a city that declared itself a “nuclear-free zone,” with a nuclear physicist for a father; studying math and literature at UC San Diego; and moving to Paris, where she first saw a country at ease with nuclear power. She co-founded the nonprofit Berkeley Earth and then the now-public company Deep Isolation with her dad, before a customer’s what-if question about fresh fuel in one of its boreholes led to the discovery that would become Deep Fission. Liz also reflects on building three organizations, often being the only woman in the room, and working with her dad, who now loves to brag that his daughter is his boss.

Liz Muller is the Co-Founder and CEO of Deep Fission, a company building an underground nuclear energy system designed to dramatically cut the cost and timeline of building nuclear power. Liz brings over a decade of experience building nuclear ventures before founding Deep Fission, including co-founding Deep Isolation, a pioneering nuclear waste disposal company where she served as CEO and now serves as Board Chair, and Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit producing climate and temperature datasets used by governments and researchers worldwide. Liz earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics at UC San Diego and a master's degree in International Management from ESCP Business School in Paris. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband and two children.

“Nuclear is an answer that will allow everyone to keep using the power that they want to, expand their access to electricity, and to do it at a cost and a safety profile that is remarkable.”

“What Deep Fission is doing that is unique is combining three mature technologies that are readily available, but doing it in a brand new way that’s never been done before. It’s a new deployment model for existing nuclear technology rather than trying to design a brand new type of reactor.”