News
Nuclear and Radiation Engineering graduate student Braden Pecora has been selected as the 2026–27 Kay Bailey Hutchison (KBH) Computational Energy Fellow, a joint fellowship from the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and the KBH Energy Center at UT Austin.
The fellowship recognizes an outstanding Oden Institute graduate student or postdoctoral fellow who contributes computational science expertise to the educational programming of the KBH Energy Center's Energy Studies Minor.
Join the UT Nuclear Niche for an in-person fireside chat with Commissioner David Wright of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Use the QR code below or this link to register.
📍 Rowling 5.210
🗓 Tuesday, March 31, 2026
⏰ 1:30–3:00 PM
🍭 Light bites provided
Current PhD student Ivy Seidel published the peer-reviewed paper, Investigating nuclear energy viability in Texas with decision making model GenX, in the journal Energy Economics. This paper focuses on the analysis of the economic viability of Nuclear Power in Texas. Seidel utilized open source capacity expansion model GenX to weigh the cost of unserved energy against the cost of implementing nuclear power in the face of electricity demand growth Texas. ERCOT is expected to experience a dramatic increase in the number of data centers being constructed due to the favorable economic landscape of the state, this would greatly impact industrial power draw and need to be accounted for in the coming years. A sharp rise in power demand along with expected population growth is predicted to cause a near doubling of the average electricity demand in Texas by 2030.
Join the UT Nuclear Niche for an in-person fireside chat with Isabelle Boemeke on Advocacy in the Last Nuclear Renaissance. Use the QR code below or this link to register.
📍 Rowling 5.210
🗓 Tuesday, March 24, 2026
⏰ 5:30–7:00 PM
Dr. Jeongwon Seo's paper, Softmax-Based Deep Neural Network in Regression, was recently published in the Journal of VVUQ. While traditional AI regression models are great at giving a single "average" answer, they often struggle with the messy, unpredictable nature of real-world data.
To overcome this, Dr. Seo's approach borrows a clever tactic from classification: by breaking continuous outputs into discrete 'bins', the model can predict not just a single number, but the entire landscape of probabilities.
Dani Zigon, Director of Strategic Initiatives for The University of Texas at Austin’s Nuclear & Radiation Engineering Program, recently served as moderator and panelist for the Texas Nuclear Alliance (TNA) webinar, “The Path Forward for Cultivating Homegrown Nuclear Talent in Texas.” A full recording can be found on YouTube.
Bradley Gladden, a current PhD candidate, was recently selected as the winner of the MARC XIII Student Poster Presentation Competition for her work titled "Modeling Fluorinated Spent Nuclear Fuel in a Molten Salt Reactor."
Dr. Dale Klein, UT Austin Professor and former Commissioner of the NRC, spoke during a plenary at the 21st International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM 2025), in San Antonio, Texas last July. He cautioned us all not to repeat past mistakes, to consider the role of an independent regulator "sacrosanct," and develop an integrated, "long-term approach between industry and government, both here and internationally, if we want nuclear to scale to what the global economy now demands." Read more of his speech in this issue of Nuclear Newswire.
This Nuclear Niche event will be co-sponsored with the KBH Center and our UT American Nuclear Society Student Chapter. We will be welcoming Dr. Jon McWhirter, Chief Engineer at TerraPower to speak on the intersection of nuclear power and healthcare.
📅 When: Thursday, November 6th, 5:00 PM
📍 Where: ETC 3.112
🎤 Speaker: Dr. Jon McWhirter, Chief Engineer at TerraPower
Come see Dr. Derek Haas speak on nuclear power in Texas at the 2025 Texas Energy Summit in downtown Austin at the Capitol. Student registration is free.
📅 When: Thursday, November 6th, 1:30 PM
📍 Where: Texas State Capitol
📝 Registration Link: Here
