Good Disruption: Small Nuclear

AI requires data, lots of it. Tech companies are rapidly building new data centers to house it, which will require massive amounts of electricity. How do we power them and stay on track with our emission reduction goals?

An unlikely candidate is emerging – nuclear energy. But it’s not the reactor of the 60s that is being built. Small modular nuclear reactors are dispatchable, site-flexible, and safe but can they overcome the regulatory, financial, and public perception hurdles to more broadly scale?

Mike and Yael speak with Stephen Leff (MBA '20), a Project Manager at BWX Technologies and expert in nuclear energy sources about the promise and challenges of this clean tech solution.

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About the Expert

Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Vice Dean; Senior Associate Dean for Professional Degree Programs; Altec Styslinger Foundation Bicentennial Professor of Business Administration

Grushka-Cockayne’s research and teaching activities focus on decision analysis, forecasting, project management and behavioral decision-making.

As an expert in the area of project management, she has served as a consultant to international firms in the aerospace and transportation industries. She is the secretary/treasurer of INFORMS Decision Analysis Society, a U.Va. Excellence in Diversity fellow and member the Project Management Institute.

B.Sc., Ben-Gurion University; M.Sc., London School of Economics; M.Res., Ph.D., London Business School

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About the Expert

Michael Lenox

Special Adviser for the Dean; Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration

Lenox’s expertise is in the domain of technology strategy and policy. He studies the role of innovation in helping a business succeed. In particular, he explores the sourcing of external knowledge by firms and this practice’s impact on a company’s innovation strategy. Lenox has a longstanding interest in the interface between business strategy and public policy as it relates to the natural environment; his work explores firm strategies and nontraditional public policies that have the potential to drive green innovation and entrepreneurship.

In 2013, Lenox co-authored The Strategist’s Toolkit with Darden Professor Jared Harris. His latest book,

Lenox is a prolific author; his most recent book, Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation, examines how digital technologies and services enable the creation of innovative products and services, as well as identifying new competitive positions.

B.S., M.S., University of Virginia; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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