Nuclear Power in the Age of AI and Energy Transition - In the Eyes of a Civil Structural Engineer

Nuclear energy is undergoing a renaissance driven by carbon neutrality and climate goals, as well as national and energy security demands. Hyperscalers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft invest in nuclear power to fuel their AI ambitions and data center growth. While gigawatt-scale nuclear power plants are prohibitively expensive and taking decades to develop, Small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced reactors (ARs) bring the optimism to be safer, cheaper and easier to construct. SMRs and ARs can bring new opportunities beyond electricity generation. In this webinar, Dr. Kai Zhang discusses the opportunities and challenges of SMRs and ARs from a civil structural engineer’s perspective.   

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Kai Zhang is an Engineering Manager at X-energy where he manages the civil structural engineering department, and oversees the structural design and site development of the Xe-100 plant, a Generation IV advanced nuclear reactor. His expertise includes composite structures, modular construction, seismic analysis and design, simulation, safety and reliability of structures, seismic fragility, and digital engineering. Kai is a licensed professional engineer in California with a doctoral degree from Purdue University. He serves in several code committees, including the ASCE Dynamic Analysis of Nuclear Structures (DANS) committee and AISC Steel Nuclear Structure (N690) committee.