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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.
UWC Plenary SPeaker
Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Dr. Rita Baranwal is Vice President of Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer. She has overall management and technical responsibility for the research and development activities conducted by EPRI with its global membership related to nuclear generation.
Baranwal joined EPRI in January of 2021 and leads a sector that provides research and development (R&D) to more than 80 percent of the world’s commercial nuclear fleet. Before joining EPRI, Baranwal served as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She led efforts to promote R&D on existing and advanced nuclear technologies that sustain the U.S. fleet of nuclear reactors and enable the deployment of advanced nuclear energy systems.
Prior to the DOE, Baranwal directed the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative at Idaho National Laboratory. Under her leadership, GAIN positively impacted over 120 companies by providing state-of-the-art R&D expertise, capabilities, and infrastructure to support deployment of innovative nuclear energy technologies.
Before GAIN, Baranwal was director of technology development and application at Westinghouse.
Baranwal is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.
She has a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in materials science and engineering and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in the same discipline from the University of Michigan.
Last modified June 7, 2021, 2:55pm EDT
