Brad Rearden

Dr. Brad Rearden is the Director of the Government R&D Division, providing innovative nuclear energy solutions, especially through the development of transportable high-temperature microreactors, with a focus on supporting the missions of government agencies including Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, and others. Dr. Rearden brings more than 23 years of experience as a values-driven, hands-on leader providing innovative solutions and analysis approaches that have enabled advances in the design, deployment, and regulation of nuclear technologies, implementing successful outcome-oriented practices focused on quality assurance and team building in the realization of world-class capabilities.

He served as Deputy Program Manager and Director of Engineering in X-energy’s development of a megawatt class, containerized, transportable nuclear power system for DoD’s Project Pele and as Solution Architect for X-energy’s space nuclear programs including Lunar Fission Surface Power systems and space nuclear propulsion concepts.

During his 20-year tenure at ORNL, he led Modeling and Simulation Integration in the Reactor and Nuclear Systems Division, where he inspired innovation and efficiency through ORNL’s Nuclear Resources Analysis and Modeling Portfolio (ONRAMP) programs. Brad has served as technical or programmatic lead for $100M of applications-driven research, development, deployment, and training projects, for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and other domestic and international industrial partners. As the Director of the SCALE Code System from 2009-2018, he developed and fulfilled a progressive multi-year application-driven strategy to establish one of the world’s premiere toolkits for nuclear design, analysis and regulatory review, licensed to 10,000 users in over 60 nations. Brad also served as the leader of the Integration Product Line for the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program from 2015-2018 and as the National Technical Director of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Data and Benchmarking Program in 2018.

Dr. Rearden is the author or co-author of more than 200 publications including peer reviewed journals, technical reports, and conference papers. He has held leadership roles in professional societies and international working groups and is the recipient of numerous awards for technical excellence, technology transfer, and mentoring. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University.