Ethan Bates Email & Phone Number

Union City, Ca, Us

Berkeley, California, Us

As VP of Product, I'm responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive product strategy aligned with Deep Isolation's overall vision to tackle the unsolved nuclear waste problem. Building on my previous role and expertise in systems engineering, I'm leading the product development lifecycle from concept to demonstration and commercialization. This involves heavy collaboration with engineering teams to translate customer requirements and market insights into technical specifications and design concepts. Lastly, I'll continue cultivating strategic partnerships and alliances with industry stakeholders, regulatory bodies, and research institutions to support product development and market expansion.

Berkeley, California, Us

Responsible for implementing systems engineering-based product development of a deep borehole repository, including establishing and documenting key milestones of the conceptual stage of design, setting high level goals, and establishing the concept of operations.Developing key technical partnerships with national laboratories through the cooperative development of the features, events, and processes relevant to the long term performance of deep borehole repositories.

Berkeley, California, Us

Supporting Deep Isolation's systems engineering based product development as an independent expert and consultant. Establishing and documenting key milestones of the conceptual stage of design, including high level goals and the Concept of Operations for the repository.

Santa Clara, Ca, Us

Developed a fuel performance model to predict fuel reliability and propertiesover the 20-year irradiation period in the Aurora reactor. Fuel model essential to justifyreactor safety and economic advantages. Validated model against furnace tests and Advanced Test Reactor experiments of metallic fuel in slab and annular geometries over a large range of temperatures, pressures, and times.

Bellevue, Wa, Us

-Formulated a systems engineering product development process and company-wide procedures governing TerraPower's portfolio of nuclear projects.-Authored the general plant requirements of TerraPower's first-of-a-kind sodium cooled fast reactor for delivery to Chinese stakeholders and partner.-Identified key trade studies and cost benefit analyses necessary to maximize value and performance of the reactor.-Built consensus across groups, organized trainings, and refined procedures to promote quality and teamwork.

Bellevue, Wa, Us

Developed system models of sodium fast reactors to simulate transients and accidents. Lead author for TerraPower's benchmark and validation exercises and papers on the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II SHRT-45R transient.

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Developed a computational thermal and geologic model to simulate and optimize the deep borehole waste disposal (DBWD) spent nuclear fuel repository design. Conceived and experimentally tested novel canister sealing and fill materials. Awarded the American Nuclear Society's (ANS) Saul Levine Memorial Scholarship in 2013 and 2nd place in the 2011 Department of Energy (DOE) Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Award for outstanding research and contributions in the field of waste disposal.

Bellevue, Wa, Us

Advised OSU students with thermal-hydraulic models of natural stratification phenomena in SFR hot pools. Methods to be used for design of scale experimental facility and improvement of safety margins for the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR). Created numerical CFD (Star-CCM+) and analytical models of novel materials (insulation, molten salts) for heat removal systems in sodium fast reactors (SFRs).

Bellevue, Wa, Us

Participated in an IAEA benchmark of sodium fast reactor (SFR) safety by writing FORTRAN input deck for SASSYS code simulation of EBR-II safety tests. Required as part of the license application process of TerraPower’s SFR.

Eigenhealth is a startup consisting of five MIT alums and current students working to apply technology to enable physical fitness to be more conveniently and affordably monitored and analyzed by individuals, researchers, and corporations.

Developing an emplacement method and facility for deep borehole disposal of nuclear waste. Designing an emplacement canister and comparing hydraulic, structural and material options.

Implemented High Dimensional Model Reduction (HDMR) methods and developed an efficient approximation of the seismic response of a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) modeled reactor building.

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Co-invented, fabricated and tested a working prototype for a novel biogas scrubbing process. Won 2nd place and $3000 in the MADMEC III competition.

•Authored thermal hydraulic analyses of boric acid corrosion of bottom mounted instrumentation nozzles in pressurized water reactors. Complete report sponsored (>$100,000) by the Electric Power Research Institute

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Nuclear Science And Engineering

B.S. And S.M, Nuclear Science And Engineering