Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Idaho National Lab
Hosted by Todd Allen
Location: EECS 1311
Time: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Abstract:
The U.S. is projecting its first major increase in electricity demand since 2007. Data centers alone are projected to consume 12% of U.S. electricity by 2030—triple today’s share—driven by AI and digital transformation. Add to this the impacts of electrification and manufacturing reshoring, and the nation must prepare for an additional 130–150 GW of load by 2029, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).
Meeting this demand securely and affordably requires a broad, inclusive energy strategy. We cannot rely on a single preferred energy source. Instead, we must integrate existing large-scale resources—nuclear and fossil—with other energy options such as geothermal, water power, biomass, renewables, and advanced nuclear reactors to meet growing needs for electricity, heat, and cooling, as well as the critical materials to build these systems.
INL is advancing this vision through the proposed Energy Technology Proving Ground, a first-of-its-kind facility designed to scale, integrate, and demonstrate multiple energy systems for commercial adoption. Initial large-scale hydrogen production tests will launch this fall, with future work extending to synthetic fuels and chemicals powered by nuclear and renewables.
By accelerating the transition from lab innovation to marketplace deployment, Idaho National Laboratory aims to drive U.S. energy resilience, sustainability, and global leadership in an era of unprecedented demand.
Biography:
As the Associate Laboratory Director of Energy and Environment Science and Technology at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Shannon oversees a team of over 350 staff dedicated to a resilient, affordable, and diverse energy agenda. She steers INL’s research efforts to deliver viable energy solutions focusing on microgrid systems, water treatment, critical minerals and materials, advanced manufacturing, and efficient chemical production while harnessing cutting-edge technologies to efficiently integrate nuclear and other energy resources into the grid and the industrial sector. Shannon has earned a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering, master of science in medical physics, and a master of science and doctorate in nuclear engineering.
Synopsis:
Written by Jenna Knudtson, 3rd Year PhD Student in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Today’s seminar speaker, Shannon Bragg-Sitton from Idaho National Laboratory, spoke about the future of energy from an energy security perspective. She identified two main trends – the growing energy demand and the technologies needed to support it. Much work has been done to meet the growing electricity demand, but thermal energy is often pushed to the side. Thermal energy demands include industrial heating, material processing, and manufacturing processes. To achieve energy security, she argued, we must find ways to meet thermal demand at home without reliance on oil and gas. For example, INL has experience with using nuclear heating for district heating, water desalination, and industrial process heat. INL is also researching geothermal, biomass, and other technologies, and INL is researching other applications for nuclear energy among all the key energy currencies – heat, electricity, hydrogen, and carbon.
Bragg-Sitton identified INL’s key priorities as “enabling energy dominance and security through research and development and demonstrations.” INL is planning to build an “Energy Technology Proving Ground,” which would host several small modular reactors alongside battery, hydrogen, transportation, and biomass production facilities and testbeds. Such a facility lends to the national labs’ purpose of bridging the technology development gap between basic science research at universities and production and test beds in industry.
Bragg-Sitton concluded by identifying critical materials needed for the energy infrastructure of the future. She highlighted the need for more research on how to source and process more of these materials at home. For example, we might consider switching to targeted mining instead of strip mining for increased extraction efficiency.
One of the questions brought up in the Q&A was how administration and priority changes at the federal level affect the ability of the labs to do research. I’ve asked this question myself to my mentors during internships at national labs during Trump’s first presidency, Biden’s presidency, and Trump’s second presidency. Bragg-Sitton’s answer, and the answer I used to get, was to reframe how we talk about energy research to better align with administration objectives without drastically changing the research itself – for example, renewable energy is good both for the climate and for energy security. In this seminar, Bragg-Sitton did an excellent job framing technologies in the context of energy security, while the work she presented has plenty of other advantages and can serve many other objectives, some of which she alluded to. However, the perspectives of my mentors changed over the summer as entire divisions were closed due to politically targeted cuts to research funding and new publishing requirements were put in place to avoid language that advocates for renewable energy without reliance on fossil fuels. In my opinion, I am doubtful that reframing alone will remain effective, given current administration objectives and actions.