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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.
12th Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control and Human-Machine Interface Technologies (NPIC&HMIT 2021)
Technical Session
Tuesday, June 15, 2021|12:00–1:45PM EDT
Session Chair:
Brenden Heidrich (INL)
Alternate Chair:
Troy Unruh (INL)
Session Organizer:
Jamie B. Coble (University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Staff Producer:
Jay Bogardus (ANS)
The behavior of fuels and materials in the high radiation environment of a nuclear reactor is extremely complex and represents the limiting factor in plant safety, performance, longevity, and ultimately economics. Several U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy programs have important research and development activities focusing on the in-pile behavior of nuclear fuels and materials extending from advanced fuels development, advanced modeling and simulation, and advanced reactor development.
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Radiation-Hard Electronics for Nuclear Instrumentation in Terrestrial Reactors
N. Dianne Bull Ezell (ORNL), F. Kyle Reed (ORNL), M. Nance Ericson (ORNL)
Paper
In-Core Neutron Flux, Temperature, and Pressure Instrumentation for the WIRE-21 Experiment in the High Flux Isotope Reactor
Padhraic L. Mulligan (ORNL), N. Dianne B. Ezell (ORNL), Kurt Smith (ORNL), Kara Godsey (ORNL), Daniel C. Sweeney (ORNL), Christian M. Petrie (ORNL), Jorge Carvajal (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Shawn Stafford (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Jeff Arndt (Westinghouse Electric Co.)
Magnetostrictive Ultrasonic Waveguide Transducer for In-Pile Thermometry
Shane Palmer (Boise State Univ.), Alex Draper (Boise State Univ.), Zhangxian Deng (Boise State Univ.)
A First Principle Look at the Electromotive Force Generation from Molybdenum and Niobium Alloys
Richard Skifton (INL)
Irradiation Characterization of Pressure Transducers
Dan C. Floyd (Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville), Richard T. Wood (Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville), N. Dianne B. Ezell (ORNL)
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