NOW 2024 Recap

Day one of ETEC's NOW Conference began with Governor Bill Lee welcoming attendees to the conference via video. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann gave a brief legislative update and emphasized the importance of TVA's Clinch River Project. We heard from featured speakers Brian Smith, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors, Office of Nuclear Energy for U.S. DOE, about DOE's priorities for advanced reactors; and, Brandon Gibson, COO for the State of Tennessee who talked about the excitement around nuclear energy at the state level.

Our first Atomic Insights session, NOW's version of a fireside chat, was 'The Future Begins with Cleanup'. Nuclear energy consultant Adam DeMella, DOE OREM Manager, Jay Mullis and UCOR CEO Ken Rueter discussed how partnerships between contractors and community make a difference and most importantly how cleanup enables critical mission work and economic development for the community. They also talked about the value of a qualified workforce and the need for more and expanded apprenticeship programs.

WM Symposia hosted the networking breaks during our NOW Conference. Robert Weiler, WM Symposia Board Member, gave a brief update about WM Symposia before one of the breaks.

The Fusion Energy: From Theory to Power Grid panel moderated by Brian Wirth, soon to be head of UTK's Department of Nuclear Engineering, featured breaking news. Chris Mowry, CEO of Type One Energy announced they will be locating their headquarters in the Hardin Valley area of Knoxville in the Oak Ridge Corridor. They also announced they closed their seed round with $82.5 million! The panel then discussed achieving breakeven in fusion energy, the process to commercial viability, and how fusion energy will integrate into the power system. The panel also featured Cami Collins, ORNL; Brenda Garcia-Diaz, SRNL; Steven Krahn, Vanderbilt University; and Patrick Ellis, General Fusion.

The TN Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC) and Launch TN hosted our lunch on Day 1. Cortney Piper, Executive Director of the TAEBC spoke about the work they are doing.

The NOW Conference Nuclear Fuel Cycle panel featured moderators Peter Newby with MS Technology and Lloyd Jollay with Boston Government Services. Panelists included Larry Cutlip, Centrus Energy; Dan Brown, TRISO-X; Micah Hackett, Kairos Power; and, Brian Ade, Ultra Safe Nuclear. They talked about their company's role in the fuel cycle, the status of their projects, and the design and development they are undertaking.

The NOW Conference panel Energy Security is National Security, Safeguarding our Future, talked about how national and energy security are related, major security concerns, host city and community ideas, R&D needs, and what keeps them up at night. Fascinating and scary. Riche Tighe, CEO of CNS, made preliminary comments and introduced the moderator. Moderated by Martin Williamson, CNS Panelists included: Jennifer Charlton, Y-12; Cary Crawford, ORNL; Sean Gleason, IB3 Global Solutions and Oak Ridge City Council; Sherrell Greene, Advanced Technology Insights; Teresa Robbins, NNSA; and, Krista Wiegand, UTK Baker School.

Tennessee's Nuclear Energy Advisory Council (TNEAC) panel gave an overview of the work completed in the past year in the areas of workforce strategies, public and private funding opportunities, and state incentives and regulatory concerns. They then hosted a NOW first, a technology-driven interactive session to gain the audience's feedback on each of these areas. They will use the results to assist in the development of a final report to the Tennessee’s governor.

NOW's second Atomic Insights session was the Pathway to Deployment with speakers Jeff Lyash, CEO of TVA; Maria Korsnick, CEO of NEI; Stephen Streiffer, Director, ORNL, and moderator Jeff Smith, VP National Labs, UT System. They spoke about partnerships, alignment, and initiatives such as the UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, and issues like closing the back end of the fuel cycle, renewables, fusion energy, and their one wish.

NOW Conference attendees enjoyed hearing from featured speaker Candice Robertson before the Atomic After Party. Candice is the Senior Advisor, Office of Environment Management for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Atomic After Party was a great way to celebrate and connect with 600 plus attendees at the end of NOW Day 1. Attendees appreciated a welcome from our local elected officials and Atomic After Party supporter, Nuclear Services Partners.