Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

There may have been no more fitting place to gather for a conversation about the future of nuclear energy than Colorado.

For the nuclear community, Colorado carries a special resonance. About an hour north of Denver stands Fort St. Vrain. Today, it is a garden-variety natural gas power plant. But there was a time it was an ambitious nuclear reactor—a high-temperature gas reactor with helium coolant and a uranium-thorium fuel cycle. It was ahead of its time in many ways and imperfect in execution, but unmistakably part of the long story of nuclear innovation in America.

Colorado is a state shaped by frontiers. We, too, are standing at a frontier, which brings me to this year’s conference theme: “Net Out, Power Up.” We chose this theme to reflect the complementary challenges facing two parts of our community. “Net Out” reflects fusion’s challenge: proving you can get more energy out than you put in. “Power Up” reflects fission’s challenge: scaling advanced nuclear technologies quickly enough to meet rising demand.