Nuclear is NOW in East Tennessee | One of the largest nuclear conferences kicks off in Knoxville
The excitement and energy about East Tennessee were on full display at day one of the Nuclear Opportunities Workshop (NOW) on Tuesday. More than 1,200 people packed into a standing-room-only room at the Knoxville Convention Center to learn about how East Tennessee has become the “Nuclear Epicenter” of the United States.
The conference first kicked off in 2018, spearheaded by the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC), with about 80 attendees. Tracy Boatner, the President and CEO of ETEC, shared that about 70 of those attendees the first year doubled as speakers. Nine years later, there is a 1,400% increase in attendance, with industry leaders visiting from 35 states and four countries.
What makes Tennessee such a hotspot for advanced energy technologies?
Many people would jump to answer this question as “The Big Three”: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). And there is truth to this statement. These organizations attract top-tier talent, have big budgets for innovation, and employ an estimated 25,000 people collectively.
But the NOW conference emphasized the real secret weapon: Alignment.
Wade Crestwell, Roane County Executive, said it best to kick off the conference.
“Ecosystem alignment at the local, state, and federal level is the secret sauce,” he said.
Across the state of Tennessee, there are approximately 220 nuclear companies, and yet 150 of those companies are consolidated in the Oak Ridge-Roane County corridor.
Crestwell said it’s not by mistake. Roane County and Anderson County (Mayor Terry Frank) are aligned; ETEC is also aligned; the state is aligned. That’s why the momentum has accelerated year over year.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee also attended the NOW conference on Tuesday, sharing that building the nuclear economy in the state has been a top priority of his administration. For example, he created the state Nuclear Fund in 2023; to date, it has committed nearly $49 million in grants to 14 major nuclear projects across the state. He also created the Nuclear Advisory Council to inform policymakers of nuclear industry needs.
“We saw the opportunity to dig our heels in with the Department of Energy (DOE), and we paid attention to their needs. In response, we have spent the last five years leaning in to create this nuclear ecosystem,” the Governor said.
Most recently, we reported in Teknovation that the DOE named Tennessee a finalist for a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus.
The first half of the day on Tuesday rotated around these accomplishments with other key speakers, including but not limited to leaders like: Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon, Brandon Williams (DOE/NNSA), Todd Ailes (CNS), Christofer Mowry (Type One Energy), Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, Rita Baranwal (Radiant), Ed Blandford (Kairos Power), Jim Blankenhorn (UCOR), Jean-Luc Palayer, (Orano USA), Joel Duling (TRISO-X), Christo Liebenberg (LIS Technologies), and many, many more.
See full speaker schedule here.
NOW Conference continues on Wednesday, August 5 with more programming. To find agenda details, visit the NOW website.
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