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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.
18th International Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Analysis (PSA 2023)
Technical Session|PSA Analyses: Methods and Applications
Wednesday, July 19, 2023|10:00–11:45AM EDT|300B
Session Chair:
Andrea Maioli
Alternate Chair:
Heather L. Detar
Session Organizer:
Askin Guler Yigitoglu
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Xe-100 PRA Event Sequence Modeling Framework
10:00–10:25AM EDT
Huafei Liao (X-energy), Karl Fleming (Technology Insights), Mostafa Hamza (NCSU), Luke McSweeney (X-energy), Mark Cursey (X-energy), Eric Deeken (X-energy), Olivier Retourne (X-energy), Glen Lawson (X-energy), Mihai A. Diaconeasa (NCSU)
Paper
Early Prediction and Classification of Heat Transfer Degradation in Coolant Channels Using Kramers-Moyal Coefficients
10:25–10:50AM EDT
Molly Ross (Purdue), Xu Chu (Univ. Stuttgart), Hitesh Bindra (Purdue)
Probabilistic Risk Assessment Goals for the eVinciTM Microreactor
10:50–11:15AM EDT
Heather Detar (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Andrea Maioli (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Jim Scobel (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Josh Beckton (Westinghouse Electric Co.)
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