Rethinking the role of experts and communities in the energy technology design process
Technology developers and policymakers in the US and globally are developing a new generation of nuclear energy technologies (fission and fusion) with the expectation that these technologies will play an important role in the rapid and deep decarbonization of energy systems. Some estimates for future nuclear energy use call for a three- to tenfold increase in capacity. These technologies, unlike reactors of the past, are smaller in scale and likely to be sited in proximity to or even embedded in communities who increasingly, are expressing a desire to have a say in the designs and impacts of these facilities.
How might engineers who are designing these technologies do so with community priorities in mind? And how might the designers of these technologies engage with communities who might one day host these energy facilities?
To these questions, I offer some answers by drawing on examples from my research and teaching at the University of Michigan. I share a range of tools, methods, and protocols we have been developing – including speculative design workshops, Generative AI-assisted prototyping, immersive VR experiences for public engagement, and online platforms for gathering facility design preferences from communities.
However, these tools alone are insufficient to build the energy futures we imagine. For these tools to be used effectively – we must also train a new kind of nuclear engineer – equipped with sociotechnical skills and equal to the task of engaging with publics and communities. In closing the talk, I will offer some reflections on how we at Michigan are working towards creating such sociotechnical engineers.
Bio:
Aditi Verma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan. She was previously a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Prior to her appointment at the Belfer Center, Aditi worked at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.
Aditi is broadly interested in how nuclear energy systems and their institutional infrastructures can be designed in more creative, participatory, and inclusive of lay perspectives. To this end, her research group at the University of Michigan works towards developing a more fundamental understanding of the early stages of the design process to improve design practice and pedagogy, and also improve the tools with which designers of complex sociotechnical systems work.
In her prior position at the OECD NEA, Aditi’s work, endorsed and funded by policymakers from the NEA member countries, focused on bringing epistemologies from the humanities and social sciences to academic and practitioner nuclear engineering, thus broadening their epistemic core. At the NEA, Aditi also led the establishment of the Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology, and Policy.
Aditi holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT.
