Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

The first day is in the books at the 30th annual edition of the Tennessee Valley Corridor’s National Summit, and the focus was on nuclear energy.

During the first of two sessions, Commissioner Stuart McWhorter of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development set the stage for why the Volunteer State ranks at or near the top in recruitment.

“The reason we win is our people,” he told attendees during a session titled “Working Together to Create the Nation’s Energy Hub.” In addition to the Commissioner, the session featured three educators and two people involved in the cleanup activities in Oak Ridge. The moderator was Mike Magill, the newly named President of the Oak Ridge Corridor Development Corporation.

Commissioner McWhorter told how the focus on nuclear came about some three years ago as state government asked, “What can the state do in some meaningful way?” The answer was the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Fund that has grown with legislative support to about $80 million with about one-half allocated.

But, as someone said after the session during a break, it takes more than just people to achieve the excitement and acceleration that exists in Tennessee and Oak Ridge these days. Other ingredients included land and a trained workforce to capitalize the opportunities that exist these days with the nuclear renaissance.

Erik Olds, who is slightly more than one-year into his role as Manager of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge, recalled his first East Tennessee Economic Council meeting where he described Oak Ridge as “magical.” That opinion has not changed since he arrived. “It is the people committed to a single mission,” Olds said, further underscoring the point that Commissioner McWhorter.

Two of the panelists from higher education were Chris Whaley, President of Roane State Community College, and Brian Wirth, Head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

1. Whaley said the role of his team is to “listen” and “capture what your workforce needs are.”
2. Wirth noted that the enrollment had doubled in the last few years and attributed it to the “power of the ecosystem.”

Ken Rueter, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UCOR, the environmental cleanup contractor, gave a shoutout to two programs that are helping prepare the workforce: Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect.

At the end, Commissioner McWhorter quoted Governor Bill Lee, who said the state that has the ready workforce is the state that will win.

The second session, moderated by Tracy Boatner, President and CEO, showcased a number of the 10 companies that have announced plans for the Oak Ridge region. They included TRISO-X, Kairos Power, Solestiss, Orano USA. Kiewet Nuclear Solutions, and Centrus.

Brooke Morrison, CEO of Solestiss, said two things that captured our attention. One was that Oak Ridge National Laboratory is two years ahead of other DOE labs in terms of artificial intelligence. She also worked at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for more than four years and said she used to see the agency as a partner but now viewed it as an adversary.

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