Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

The sixth annual “Nuclear Opportunities Workshop” (NOW) is just two weeks off, and more than 430 people have already registered for the event. With 14 days to go before NOW kicks off at the Hilton Knoxville Airport, it is on track to break last year’s attendance record of some 450 attendees.

As the name implies, the focus over the two days – July 30 and 31 – is on all things nuclear: fission, fusion, isotopes, environmental management, space nuclear propulsion, artificial intelligence in nuclear, and workforce among others. Registration is still underway at this link.

The event is organized by the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC) and has doubled in size each of the first five years.

“ETEC’s NOW Conference showcases Tennessee’s commitment to shaping the future of nuclear – from energy to medicine,” said Tracy Boatner, ETEC President and Chief Executive Officer. “NOW unites leaders from DOE, TVA, NRC, industry, and academia to ignite transformative progress and pathways to deployment. Enabled by Oak Ridge Environmental Management’s cleanup efforts and anchored by Oak Ridge National Lab, Y-12 National Security Complex, TVA, ORAU, and the University of Tennessee, the Oak Ridge Corridor is fueling a robust nuclear ecosystem that promises to improve lives and secure our energy future.”

Described on the website as Tennessee’s premier nuclear industry conference, the sixth edition features a range of speakers and panelists, starting with Brian Smith, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He is first up after brief welcoming remarks on July 30.

Immediately following Smith’s speech will be Brandon Gibson, Chief Operating Officer for the State of Tennessee. Later in the afternoon, another DOE executive – Candice Robertson, Senior Advisor for Environmental Management, speaks ahead of the “Atomic After Party” reception.

Several panels before and after lunch on the first-day focus on different aspects of the region’s nuclear future. The panels, topics, and participants include:

• “Atomic Insights: The Future Begins with Cleanup” featuring Adam DeMella, Consultant, ADG Strategies, LLC; Jay Mullis, Manager, Oak Ridge Environmental Management, DOE; and Ken Rueter, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR).
• “The Nuclear Fuel Cycle,” moderated by Lloyd Jollay, Vice President, Isotopes and Nuclear Fuel Cycle with Boston Government Services, and Peter Newby, President, MS Technology, and featuring Larry Cutlip, Senior Vice President, Field Operations, Centrus Energy Corp; Dan Brown, Director, Fuel Fabrication, TRISO-X; Donald Gustavson, Business Operations Manager, Ultra Safe Nuclear; and Bruce Hilton, Technical Director, TerraPower.
• “Fusion Energy: From Theory to Power Grid,” moderated by Brian Wirth, Governor’s Chair Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), and featuring Chris Mowry, CEO, Type One Energy; Cami Collins, Interim Section Head, Burning Plasma Foundations, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Brenda Garcia-Diaz, Program Manager for Fusion Energy, Savannah River National Laboratory; and Steven Krahn, Professor, Practice of Nuclear Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University. More panelists could be added.
• “Energy Security is National Security: Safeguarding Our Future,” moderated by Martin Williamson, Senior Director of Global Security and Strategic Partnerships for Consolidated Nuclear Security, and featuring Jennifer Charlton, Chief Scientist at the Y-12 National Security Complex; Cary Crawford, Director, Nuclear Nonproliferation Division, ORNL; Sean Gleason, President and CEO, IB3 Global Solutions; Sherrell Greene, President and Founder, Advanced Technology Insights; Teresa Robbins, Manager of the Y-12 Field Office for the National Nuclear Security Administration; and Krista Wiegand, Professor and Director, Center for National Security and Foreign Affairs at UTK’s Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs.
• “Atomic Insights: Pathway to Deployment,” featuring Jeff Smith, Vice President for National Labs, UT System; Jeff Lyash, President and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); Maria Korsnick, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI); and Stephen Streiffer, ORNL Director.

Day 2 is all panels.

• “Atomic Insights: Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) Impact on the Nuclear Industry” will feature Prashant Jain, Interim Section Head for the Advanced Reactor Engineering and Development Section in the Nuclear Energy & Fuel Cycle Division at ORNL; Mike Drudy, Director of Digital Optimization Solutions, Westinghouse Electric Company; and Kristian Kielhofner, Chief AI Architect and Co-Founder, Atomic Canyon.
• “Atomic Insights: Partnering with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)” features Peter Hastings, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality, Kairos Power; Robert Taylor, Deputy Office Director, New Reactors, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation at the NRC; and Jennifer Wheeler, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, X-energy and TRISO-X.
• “Policy and Regulation Landscape at the State, Local, and National Levels” features the NRC’s Taylor along with Molly Cripps, Director, Office of Energy Programs, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation; and Amy Fitzgerald, Government Affairs and Information Services Director, City of Oak Ridge.
• “Non-linear Approaches to Workforce Challenges,” moderated by Bill Tindal, President of Omega Technical Services, features Naomi Asher, Chief Development Officer, Boys and Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley; Mark Buckner, Founder and Lead Instructor, Oak Ridge High School’s iSchool; Olivia Blackmon, Partnership for Nuclear Energy, Oak Ridge Associated Universities; Joe Stainback, Nuclear Technology Program Director, Roane State Community College; Jeffrey King, Founding Director, Nuclear Engineering, Tennessee Technological University; and Jamie Choate, TVA’s Director of Workforce Strategy and Development.
• Wrapping up the two days is the final panel titled “Advanced Reactors: Pioneering the Future of Energy.” It will be moderated by Greg Boerschig, TVA’s Vice President for the Clinch River Project, and includes Todd Noe, Director of Nuclear and Energy Innovations, Microsoft; Rita Baranwal, Senior Vice President, AP300 Small Modular Reactor, Westinghouse Electric Company; and Michael Joseph Durr, TVA Corporate Director of Design Engineering. More panelists are expected to be added.

Last year, ETEC unveiled this map of the ecosystem during the event.

 

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