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2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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On moving fast and breaking things
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
So much of what is happening in federal nuclear policy these days seems driven by a common approach popularized in the technology sector. Silicon Valley calls it “move fast and break things,” a phrase originally associated with Facebook’s early culture under Mark Zuckerberg. The idea emerged in the early 2000s as software companies discovered that rapid iteration, frequent experimentation, and a willingness to tolerate failure could dramatically accelerate innovation. This philosophy helped drive the growth of the social media, smartphones, cloud computing, and digital platforms that now underpin modern economic and social life.
Today, that mindset is also influencing federal nuclear policy. The Trump administration views accelerated nuclear deployment as part of a broader competition with China for technological and AI leadership. In that context, it seems willing to accept greater operational risk in pursuit of strategic advantage and long-term economic and security objectives.
Technical Session|Sponsored by OPD
Wednesday, December 1, 2021|2:35–4:00PM EST |Georgetown West
Session Chair:
Erin Wehlage (Studsvik Scandpower)
Alternate Chair:
Tim Crook (MCR Performance Solutions)
Session Organizer:
W. Neal Mann (ANL)
Student Assistant:
Matthew Hageman
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Transient Characterization in High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors Using Deep Neural Networks
2:40–3:00PM EST
Andy Rivas (NC State Univ.), G. K. Delipei (NC State Univ.), Ian Davis (X-Energy), Yvotte Brits (X-Energy), Jason Hou (NC State Univ.)
Paper
Removing Safeguards and Security Roadblocks for Advanced Reactors
3:00–3:20PM EST
Ben Cipiti (Sandia), Alison Hahn (U.S. DOE)
Improving Microreactor Competitiveness Using an Economics-by-Design Approach
3:20–3:40PM EST
Abdalla Abou-Jaoude (INL), Andrew Foss (INL), Yasir Arafat (INL), Brent Dixon (INL)
NERTHUS MSR Dynamic Model
3:40–4:00PM EST
Nicholas Dunkle (Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville), Ondrej Chvala (Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville), Visura Pathirana (Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville)
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