Rita Baranwal

Dr. Rita Baranwal is the Chief Nuclear Officer at Radiant, a Nucleation portfolio company that pioneers the world’s first mass-produced portable nuclear microreactor. She brings decades of leadership in nuclear innovation, policy, and engineering.

Dr. Rita Baranwal was nominated by the President to serve as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy (ONE) and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 20, 2019 (by a vote of 86 to 5), becoming the first woman to ever lead the Office of Nuclear Energy.

In that role, Dr. Baranwal directed programs to promote research and development (R&D) on existing and advanced nuclear technologies that sustain the existing U.S. fleet of nuclear reactors, enable the deployment of advanced nuclear energy systems, support nuclear technology for space and defense applications, and enhance the U.S.A.'s global commercial nuclear energy competitiveness. She also:

Launched innovative programs to demonstrate advanced nuclear reactor designs, launched a new U.S. reactor innovation center, and a unique private-public partnership to develop new U.S. nuclear testing capabilities
Collaborated with U.S. intergovernmental agencies (e.g. Departments of State, Commerce, and Treasury, National Security Council, Office of Science & Technology Policy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Development Finance Corporation) to globally deploy new U.S. civil nuclear technology.
Implemented civil nuclear agreements with two countries; initiated civil nuclear agreement discussions with eleven countries.
Partnered with NASA on nuclear technology and expertise for space exploration. Contributed to the National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion, Executive Order on Reactors for Space Exploration, and DOE’s Space Strategy.
Managed Congressionally-enacted budget of $1.5B (FY20).
Served as the Equity in Energy Champion for DOE’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity.

Following her service as the #1 at ONE, Dr. Baranwal served as the VP of Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for over a year. As of 2022, Dr. Baranwal has returned to Westinghouse as the Chief Technology Officer.

Prior to her appointment to the ONE, Dr. Baranwal served as the director for the DOE's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) since 2016, an initiative hosted at Idaho National Laboratory. GAIN is the way the U.S. Government connects industry with national laboratories to help commercialize nuclear technologies. Under her leadership, GAIN positively impacted 112 projects and companies.

Before that, Dr. Baranwal worked for Westinghouse in the nuclear fuel division, leading a number of research and development programs. She started her career at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory helping to develop advanced nuclear fuel materials for US naval reactors.

Dr. Baranwal has a bachelor’s degree from 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.

_______________

Sources:

LinkedIn: Dr. Rita Baranwal
NayaFace: Rita Baranwal sworn in as 1st woman US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at DOE, July 25, 2019.

Published by editor in Brilliant thinkers, History-making, Nuclear R&D, Venture capital support for nuclear, Women in Nuclear, WOMEN IN NUCLEAR GRID

June 14, 2021

Sec. Granholm affirms critical need for nuclear

Jennifter Granholm, the Secretary of Energy, gave a keynote speech at the start of the Annual ANS meeting this week. Her words to an audience of tens of thousand were quickly incorporated into the below graphic from the ANS.

Additionally, last week Secretary Granholm announced the Biden Administration's goal of reducing the cost of producing clean hydrogen, which is hydrogen made with carbon-free energy sources such as renewables and nuclear energy plants. The DOE is seeking to reduce the cost by 80%, down to $1 per kilgram within a decade.

This is the first of several DOE initiatives to accelerated and innovate in clean energy called Energy Earthshots that are intended to help the U.S. economy reach its emissions goals.

"Clean hydrogen is a game changer," U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. "It will help decarbonize high-polluting heavy-duty and industrial sectors, while delivering good-paying clean energy jobs and realizing a net-zero economy by 2050.”

See: ANS: Annual Meeting Agenda, and Reuters, U.S. seeks less costly clean hydrogen in climate fight, by Timothy Gardner, June 7, 2021.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Carbon emissions, Climate change, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership

June 3, 2021

Wyoming explores replacing coal with advanced nuclear

Wyoming Governor, Mark Gordon, together with a broad coalition of high-ranking federal, state and industry partners, announced that Bill Gates' advanced nuclear venture, TerraPower, selected Wyoming to be the state in which they will build and operate their advanced nuclear Natrium™ reactor, replacing a coal-fired plant at a yet-to-be-selected Rocky Mountain Power facility.

The project, with a combination of private and federal funding and supported by Wyoming's legislature, which passed HB 74, will allow the development of a first-of-a-kind, fully functioning advanced nuclear power plant that is expected to validate the design, construction and operational features of the Natrium technology and enable Wyoming, which leads the country in coal exports, to remain a leader in a form of energy best suited to replace coal.

The Governor, in his remarks, clearly sought to straddle the complexity of competing interests in Wyoming, which is home to some of the largest fossil fuel companies in the country, while announcing this "game-changing and monumental" news.

“Earlier this year, I set a goal for Wyoming to be a carbon negative state, and continue to use fossil fuels. I am not going to abandon any of our fossil fuel industry, it is absolutely essential to our state and we believe very strongly is our fastest and clearest course to being carbon negative.

I do want to say, that it is the bedrock of our economy, in many ways, and as that, it has provided us with enormous amounts of capital and money to be able to do great things with wildlife, our landscape and our environment.

But this historic announcement helps Wyoming meet the first part of that objective. Nuclear power is clearly a part of my "all of the above" strategy, for energy in Wyoming, it will be the first of a new generation of nuclear plants that are smaller, modular in design and are equipped with enhanced safety measures. This facility will also result in an overall reduction of CO2 being released in Wyoming.

You may access the Wyoming PBS video of this announcement by clicking the image below.

https://youtu.be/hHzwwtSTbxY

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), awarded TerraPower $80 million in initial funding from the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to demonstrate the Natrium technology in October 2020. TerraPower signed the cooperative agreement with DOE in May 2021.

In December, 2020, Staffan Qvist, Paweł Gładysz, Łukasz Bartela and Anna Sowizdzał published at study that looked at the issue of how best to retrofit coal power plants for decarbonization in Poland. They published their findings in Retrofit Decarbonization of Coal Power Plants—a Case Study for Poland, showing that decarbonization retrofits worked best using high-temperature small modular reactor to replace coal boilers.

Learn more at: GeekWire's Bill Gates’ TerraPower will build its first next-gen nuclear reactor in Wyoming, by Lisa Stiffler, June 3, 2021 and at TerraPower's joint announcement with PacifCorp and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, June 2, 2021.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Carbon emissions, Construction costs, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Politicians supporting nuclear, Solving climate, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy

May 18, 2021

Biden won’t remove carbon capture and nuclear power from climate plans

President Biden won't accede to left-wing environmentalist requests to exclude carbon capture and nuclear power from his green infrastructure plans, Gina McCarthy, the top White House climate official, said during remarks at a virtual summit hosted by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Biden “is interested in an all-of-the-above strategy. He really wants to make sure that we have options and opportunities.”

Instead, Biden will find other ways to address the worries raised by activists that those technologies wouldn’t address the pollution harming poorer and minority regions, among other concerns. For instance, the administration will pursue stricter mandates on air pollution coming from power plant smokestacks.

McCarthy, who serves as National Climate Advisor, made these comments in response to concerns raised recently by left-wing climate groups and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council that certain low-carbon technologies, including carbon capture, direct air capture, and nuclear power, would not alleviate the pollution burden borne by poorer and minority people. Those groups and the council are calling on the Biden administration to avoid investing in those technologies.

Their push is at odds with the view of many centrist environmental groups and top Biden officials, who say the United States won’t meet its aggressive climate goals, including carbon-free power by 2035, without zero-carbon technologies that can run 24/7 and tackle emissions from hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industry.

See more at the Washington Examiner Biden won’t remove carbon capture and nuclear power from climate plans, White House adviser says by Abby Smith, May 18, 2021.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Future of Energy, Government support, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Politicians supporting nuclear, Solving climate, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy

February 10, 2021

Investments in nuclear energy could help solve the economic and climate crises

Biden can solve multiple problems facing the U.S. by investing in clean energy climate solutions, according to Todd Allen and Suzy Hobbs Baker—and he appears on track to do so.

"Biden ran on a sweeping clean energy plan, pledging to achieve a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035 with net zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 as part of his “all of government” plan for climate. The president’s proposed tech-neutral approach opens the door for an inclusive plan to combat climate change, which includes nuclear power — the nation’s largest carbon-free source of energy. This marks the first time nuclear power has been a part of the Democratic platform since 1972."

"Additionally, we have seen increasing bipartisan congressional support for nuclear energy over the last decade. The new administration can build on this strong foundation by accelerating its investment in advanced nuclear energy to create new opportunities in the clean power sector and take meaningful steps towards cost-effective decarbonization. The nuclear industry can be ready to accomplish this with advanced technologies and a commitment to align with the equity-centered approach of the new administration."

Read the full OpEd at "Investments in nuclear energy could help solve the economic and climate crises," published in The Hill.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Capital reallocation, Climate change, Climate innovation fund, Climate policy, Government support, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Regulatory reform, Solving climate, US technological leadership

August 28, 2020

First Advanced Nuclear Design Approved by the NRC

NuScale Power achieved a major milestone with far-reaching implications, by being the first private company to receive approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an advanced reactor design. As NuScale's Chairman and CEO, John Hopkins so aptly said: “This is a significant milestone not only for NuScale, but also for the entire U.S. nuclear sector and the other advanced nuclear technologies that will follow. This clearly establishes the leadership of NuScale and the U.S. in the race to bring SMRs to market. The approval of NuScale’s design is an incredible accomplishment and we would like to extend our deepest thanks to the NRC for their comprehensive review, to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for its continued commitment to our successful private-public partnership to bring the country’s first SMR to market, and to the many other individuals who have dedicated countless hours to make this extraordinary moment a reality.”

As exciting as this development is, NuScale's design is just the first of many new advanced reactor designs that will be applying for NRC approval—and it is one of the least innovative. NuScale Power has developed a new form factor—a small modular design—for the older light water reactor (LWR) technology that has been the basis of traditional nuclear power plants. This "half step" redesign, deploying a modular reactor, enables NuScale to factory fabricate their NuScale Power Modules,™ each capable of generating 60 MW of electricity and generating more economy of scale in the process. NuScale's scalable design—where plants can deploy up to 12 individual power modules—offers the benefits of carbon-free energy and reduces the early financial commitments associated with gigawatt-sized nuclear facilities, which has been seen as a major stumbling block for regions seeking clean energy but where a Gigaton-sized nuclear power plant was too big.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, US competitiveness, US technological leadership

Newer Posts