WM2027 Conference

The program includes keynotes, panels, breakouts, and interactive roundtables on steel-industry conditions; fabrication businesses, leadership, and industry outlook; AI and digitization in manufacturing; shop-floor equipment use cases and return on investment; and manufacturing’s economic and financial outlook. Sessions also address profitability, capital investment, business growth, tariffs, steel, leadership development, recruitment, small- and midsize-manufacturer growth, and potential changes to tax policy, OSHA and EPA regulations, and tariffs. Roundtable topics include culture, marketing, AI, and operations.

Plenary and concurrent sessions examine renewable project markets and financing across solar, wind, storage, and clean firm power. Topics include tax-credit policy and compliance, tariffs, domestic-content requirements, power and PPA prices, data-center and other large-load demand, interconnection, procurement, construction, supply chains, and post-subsidy project economics. Financing sessions address tax equity, transferable credits, preferred equity, debt, development capital, lender underwriting, diligence, tax insurance, risk allocation, offtake structures, storage revenue models, sponsor equity, M&A, portfolio and asset valuation, and operating performance. The program also covers community solar and commercial and industrial projects, clean-firm and co-located generation, domestic manufacturing, and the effect of changing policy and market conditions on project execution and investment.

The technical program solicits new, significant work relevant to the nuclear industry, with summaries and abstracts presented orally. Topics include advanced reactors and power systems; energy storage integration with nuclear plants; fusion; nuclear fuel recycling, waste forms, transmutation and disposal; AI applications in nuclear safety and materials research; nuclear nonproliferation; advanced and additive manufacturing; and thermal hydraulics. Embedded topics include Decommissioning Environmental Sciences and Remote Technology, covering robotics and remote systems, decommissioning, environmental remediation, nuclear cleanup, used-fuel management, and related AI, digital-twin and regulatory topics. Accelerator Applications covers accelerator facilities and design, nuclear data, materials science, medical and industrial applications, security and forensics, and environmental studies. Accepted and presented summaries are slated for publication in ANS Transactions.

A leadership summit and global broadcast focused on deploying small modular reactors and advanced nuclear. Themes include financing, first-of-a-kind project risk, supply-chain resilience, regulation, technology, project execution, and partnerships among utilities, developers, technology companies, finance, and regulators. The event frames nuclear as a scalable option for energy security.

The conference theme is “Going Critical: Creating a Durable Nuclear Resurgence.” Plenary discussions address how technology, finance, and public policy can sustain nuclear energy momentum, and how public confidence, domestic supply chains, workforce development, investment, and state leadership can support deployment at scale. John Wagner, Laboratory Director at INL, is a featured speaker; the opening plenary also includes U.S. NRC Commissioners Douglas Weaver and Bradley Crowell. The technical program features expert-led presentations and peer-reviewed research on advanced reactors, fuel cycle and waste management, reactor physics, fusion, AI and machine learning, materials science, instrumentation and controls, criticality safety, and robotics. Named session topics include nuclear energy markets, financing and economics; hybrid and integrated energy systems; maritime and data center applications; nuclear safeguards; cybersecurity; molten salt reactor fuels and materials; and advanced/additive manufacturing. Panels address uranium mining remediation, environmental review, digital twins, advanced reactor fuel supply and fabrication, and nuclear deployment pathways.

The program spans project execution, nuclear energy, and grids, AI, and infrastructure. Sessions address financing and delivering the U.S. energy buildout; grid capacity, interconnection, transmission, reliability, and cost allocation; and the effects of data-center and industrial demand on power planning. Nuclear topics include power for data centers, first-of-a-kind project cost and delivery, nuclear finance, HALEU and fuel supply, utility choices among large reactors, SMRs, and microreactors, and pathways to SMR deployment. Other sessions cover LNG security, trade, and investment; energy storage and grid-edge technologies; AI in energy operations; and project bankability, permitting, policy, supply-chain, and delivery risks. The program also includes executive roundtables, a project-execution clinic, and an energy startup pitch competition.

The conference covers four technical tracks: SR-1 and spacecraft reactors, including reactor physics, fuels and materials, power conversion, thermal management, controls, testing and civil, commercial, defense, and science mission applications; LR-1 and planetary surface reactors, including lunar and Mars power architectures, deployment, power distribution, and integration with habitats, mobility, ISRU, and science payloads; Dragonfly and radioisotope power systems, including isotope production, fuel fabrication, testing, safety, and mission operations; and building the space nuclear industrial base, including infrastructure, manufacturing and qualification supply chains, regulatory frameworks, safety, standards, workforce, and industrial partnerships. Special programming includes the 2nd Workshop for Fission Instrumentation and Controls for Space, on sensors, actuators, software, and conditioning electronics, and a special session on innovative spacecraft structures and thermal systems for nuclear propulsion and power, including deployable assemblies, vehicle aggregation, in-space assembly, and mission flexibility. Accepted and presented papers and abstracts will be published in the conference proceedings. Submissions are evaluated for originality, methodological rigor, quality of results, and scientific impact.

Government, industry and market perspectives address domestic fuel supply security; uranium markets; conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication and supply-chain capacity; government policy and regulatory developments; advanced reactor fuel requirements; investment, contracting and trade; nuclear fuel transportation; and long-term fuel demand. The general session focuses on domestic and global market developments, emerging challenges, future fuel supply and legislative initiatives. The forum is closed to media.

Jointly hosted by the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute, NECX brings together utilities, advanced reactor developers, suppliers, regulators, policymakers, investors, engineers, researchers, project leaders, and innovators. Programming includes executive plenaries, technical sessions, and expert-led discussions focused on nuclear deployment, commercialization, investment, and industry growth. Focus areas include advanced nuclear deployment; manufacturing and AI innovation; regulatory affairs; project integration; supply-chain sourcing; workforce development; plant reliability and engineering; and emergency preparedness. The expo-hall Spotlight Stage features presentations on emerging technologies, practical insights, and solutions related to nuclear deployment, operations, innovation, and commercialization.

The program brings together energy, industrial transformation, and advanced manufacturing, with cross-cutting themes of workforce development, standards, finance, AI and digital transformation, policy, and resilience planning. Roundtables, workshops, and demos are designed to address tradeoffs involving affordability, risk, standardization, and deployment speed. Program tracks include Powering Growth, with sample sessions on data-center power and cooling, new nuclear deployment, solar cost reduction, and scaling geothermal; Industry Reimagined, covering industrial heat electrification, next-generation steel, and EPC project-delivery costs and risks; Next-Gen Manufacturing, addressing hardware investment and bankability, additive manufacturing, and sustainability tradeoffs in product design; and Future Workforce, on nuclear workforce readiness, apprenticeships, and aligning training programs with real projects. Additional sessions are in development in areas including energy storage, fusion, industrial efficiency, critical minerals, and sustainability tradeoffs. The listed sessions are samples and subject to change.

Discussion focuses on delivering new nuclear projects on private and federal sites across the United States. The forum brings together local government and community leaders with federal agencies and industry, including data center companies, host communities, DOE, NRC, and state and Tribal governments. Topics include nuclear energy advancements, business opportunities, project implementation plans, challenges, partnerships, and economic development.