Nuclear energy is in the midst of a renaissance in the United States, driven in part by a new generation of smaller, simpler reactors. Rita Baranwal is playing a big role in deploying that technology; she is the first chief nuclear officer at Radiant, a start-up developing what could be the world’s first mass-produced microreactor.

Microreactors are one of the hot new kids on the block in nuclear energy. Built in a factory and then trucked to where they’re needed, they are designed to power a data center, military installation, factory or even a small town for years without any refueling or on-site maintenance. Radiant plans to conduct a fueled test of its new reactor in 2026—which could be the first fueled test of a new commercial reactor design in the United States in 50 years.

For Baranwal, her role as Radiant’s chief nuclear officer is the culmination of a career journey that has taken her from fundamental science and engineering roles toward on-the-ground impact. 

“I’ve been told my entire career, ‘You’re in the wrong part of the industry,’” Baranwal said. “I’ve been told I have much more startup DNA than what’s expected in traditional nuclear culture. So I feel like I’m finally in the right place. It took me a long time to get here.”

As a U-M PhD student in materials science and engineering, she gained core skills that she would later draw on to try new ideas, unafraid of failure and ready for the next pivot. But she hadn’t yet imagined using that courage and resilience outside of the laboratory. That began to change on a field trip in her first job out of college, at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. 

“One summer, I got to drive a van full of interns to the Newport News shipyard, see the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier being constructed and stand inside where the reactor compartment was going to go,” Baranwal said. “And I realized that this nuclear fuel that I’m developing in my lab is going to fuel this ship—this behemoth of a ship—and defend my country. That was really a turning point for me.”

Once she understood the power of nuclear energy, she was hooked. She cut her teeth as a manager on a joint project with NASA, then made her way to Westinghouse to run materials and fuel rod design. 

Baranwal counts two reactor concepts launched at Westinghouse among her top career accomplishments: a grid-scale lead-cooled fast reactor, which produces less fuel waste and doesn’t need to be sited near a body of water; and a microreactor, which evolved into Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor. 

In 2016, Baranwal was tapped to lead a new program out of Idaho National Laboratory. Called Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear, it helps private companies get access to the facilities, data and expertise in the U.S. national laboratory system.

In 2019, she was nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, continuing to support the growth of nuclear startups around the country. This was followed by a one-year stint as Chief Nuclear Officer and Vice President for Nuclear Energy at the Electric Power Research Institute before returning to Westinghouse as chief technology officer, after which she then led the design of the AP300 small modular reactor.

Baranwal joined Radiant in June, 2025. She says her instinct to try new things quickly, pursuing successes and pivoting after failures, is broadly shared among her coworkers. And while she has only been with Radiant for a short time, she can see the impact that her early-career work is having on the company. For instance, while at the Department of Energy, she started a program that is now helping to launch Radiant’s first fueled test.

“Being in a startup is very different from any other role I’ve been in, and it is the other end of the spectrum, coming from a large 10,000 plus person company. You wear a lot of hats. Decisions get made very quickly,” said Baranwal. “At Radiant, there is a high value placed on curiosity. To ask, why is it done this way? Why can’t it be done a different way? That’s been my nature all along.”