The new executive director selected to lead the Tri-City charge toward clean power, specifically next-generation nuclear power, is passionate about his new mission.

Andrew Bielat joined the VERTical innovation cluster to oversee plans to convene industry and public groups to advance the deployment of next-generation nuclear power. 

“If all of this starts to come to our area, we would be the center of next generation nuclear power,” he said.

To meet state and federal carbon-free emissions goals, “you can’t do it with solar, you can’t do it with wind, you can’t do it with more hydro. Even if you added all those up, you can’t get to the goals. And so, we have to have nuclear power,” Bielat said.

What is VERTical?

That’s where the innovation cluster comes in.

VERTical, established in 2022, is administered by the Port of Benton.

Diahann Howard, the port’s executive director, served as interim director from October 2023 until Bielat joined the team June 18.

Innovation clusters are industry-led consortiums that work together to drive innovation, pursue market opportunities and identify and solve challenges that limit growth.

The state Department of Commerce has invested in VERTical as part of its first cohort for funding through its Innovation Cluster Accelerator Program.

VERTical is collaborating with city of Richland, Tri-City Development Council, Clean Energy Supplier Alliance and other partners to establish a clean energy park in the Tri-Cities.

One of Bielat’s goals for VERTical is to “set it up as a sustainable entity.” 

The group is primarily funded by the government, which Bielat said is always partially sustainable because every year there is a new budget and new administrations. 

VERTical hopes to get a commitment in the form of a federal grant. Currently, the cluster is working to secure a 10-year, $120 million National Science Foundation grant. 

The grant has multiple phases, but “we have a really, really strong request going in,” Bielat said. 

The state of Washington is sponsoring the grant.

“If we’re successful at that, that’s about half of what we would want,” Bielat said. “The other half would come from private industry.”

He said that’s one of the reasons he was brought in as the executive director for the cluster. VERTical needs to bring in private companies as partners, but with the important focus on common industry issues.

“How do we go after the right players, and how do we get potentially competitive companies, very big and successful companies that cooperate on the common needs of the industry?” Bielat said. “And we think the best place to do that is Tri-Cities.”

He added that one of his goals is to be more inclusive of tribal communities. “If we can get the tribal communities truly engaged, that’s also a big benefit to both the Tri-Cities and the Northwest in general,” he said.

Passion for nuclear power

For Bielat, who is currently based in Vancouver and working remotely, “my passion has always been nuclear power.”

He got his start in the nuclear industry 35 years ago at the Trojan nuclear plant in Oregon, where he got involved with root cause analysis. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

After several years, Bielat transitioned to a consulting role, allowing him to continue focusing on root cause and supporting the nuclear industry. Later, he moved into heavy manufacturing and became the chief operating officer of a steel company.

Throughout this time, Bielat “continued to help other companies grow and expand,” as well as improve their performance, he said. 

He also founded a company called Pilot Advisors, which helps guide companies to be successful.

When some friends in the nuclear industry told him that the industry was making a comeback and reactors were being built again, Bielat was excited. He still had his passion for nuclear energy.

That was the spark he needed to dive back into the industry. He found out about VERTical, met with Howard and became the cluster’s executive director.

Next-generation nuclear power

Many next-generation nuclear power designs already exist, Bielat said, “from small nuclear units that can be put in the back of a pickup, to the standard gigawatt size plants that you’ve seen and people are used to. All those designs are out there.”

However, Bielat said that nuclear power has been out of favor, with very little new construction taking place in the last 40 years. 

“We lost the manufacturer capability,” he said. “… We’ve lost the skill base of people who are inspectors and radiation techs and operators.” 

Where VERTical comes in is the commercialization aspect, actually deploying the existing designs. Bielat described the cluster as coming together to solve common problems.

All of the companies interested in nuclear energy, “no matter what design they’re after and who’s funding them, are going to need to have the workforce, they’re going to need to have the supply chain,” Bielat said.

Advanced manufacturing

Something that VERTical intends to do “right off the bat” is create a center for advanced manufacturing. 

Manufacturing facilities are needed to put in new nuclear units, Bielat said. “There are a lot of challenges that we have to overcome, things like we lost the ability to cast large components, like the heads of pressure vessels.” 

Bielat said there are some port facilities that could be used for the manufacturing center, funded by interested parties.

As the nuclear industry becomes more successful, “there will be a lot more options in the area to bring a lot more people in,” Bielat said. “This is exciting work.”

Go to: verticalcluster.com.