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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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NN Asks: Is the U.S. ready for nuclear construction to accelerate?
Craig Stover
Yes, but . . .
The United States is better positioned today for nuclear construction than it has been in decades. Some of that comes from the experience gained at Vogtle and V.C. Summer. I was part of the team that helped start the V.C. Summer project in 2008, and at that time we were trying to build a nuclear construction workforce from scratch. We learned a lot through that effort, and many of those lessons learned have since been studied, documented, and shared.
The nuclear industry is also benefiting from the wave of investment that started growing around 2020. Over the last five or six years, there has been a serious effort across the country to get ready for new nuclear builds. The U.S. government and the private sector are investing billions of dollars in new nuclear. Much of that work is happening before widespread commercial deployment contracts are signed. This is real, and we need to prepare.
Technical Session|Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion
Friday, April 5, 2024|1:35–2:55PM EDT|Engineering Services Building Room 122
Session Chair:
Christopher T. Balbier (Penn State University)
Alternate Chair:
Jacob Maxeiner (Penn State University)
Session Organizer:
Jonathan B. Balog (Penn State University)
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Radiation Mapping of a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion System
1:35–1:55PM EDT
Joseph P. Rumbaugh (U.S. Military Academy), Alexander J. Lesko (U.S. Military Academy), Gabrielle I. Hall (U.S. Military Academy), Marissa A. Massey (U.S. Military Academy)
Paper
Mars and Beyond: Design of a Nuclear Space Propulsion System
1:55–2:15PM EDT
Lucas Diehl (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.), Ben A. Impson (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.), Anthony J. Hall (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.), Candler Langston (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.)
Lunar Power: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
2:15–2:35PM EDT
Logan J. Hiland (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ.), Joey Meboe (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ.), Gabriel Payan (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ.), Karl Heine (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ.)
Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket CFE Temperature Distribution Analysis using Ansys
2:35–2:55PM EDT
Drew C. Stuffick (Penn State), Zachary T. Herzog (Penn State), Saeed Alhosani (Penn State)