Rian Bahran, the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy deputy assistant secretary for nuclear reactors, left DOE last Friday and joined microreactor developer Antares Nuclear.
Bahran, who was with DOE since January 2025, will now serve as the chief nuclear officer at Antares, beginning this week. In his new role, he will lead the company’s “nuclear operations, licensing, government affairs and policy,” according to Antares’s website. On leaving DOE, Bahran said in a July 24 LinkedIn post that Antares was his “first” pick.
Torrance, Calif.-based Antares was selected to partake in DOE’s reactor pilot program and was the first non-light reactor to reach criticality under the initiative.
Bahran has been in the nuclear industry for around 20 years, serving high-level roles at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Pentagon.
“Twenty years ago, I was promised a nuclear renaissance. It never came. So, I went to work,” Bahran said in the LinkedIn post. “Together we [DOE] helped drive implementation of last year’s four nuclear executive orders and trigger the tipping point for a nuclear renaissance…Today is my last day at DOE. I’ve done my part on the enabling side. Now I want to lead what comes next. It’s time to build.”