Benjamin Reinke

As Vice President, Global Business Development, Dr. Reinke leads long-term strategic planning for the company, integrating his work to support key functions ranging from business planning to business development, and strategic partnerships to strategic supplier relations. He also supports X-energy’s capital planning, government engagement, and communication of the X-energy corporate impact and product value.

Dr. Reinke is an energy professional with expertise in science and innovation, clean energy technology development, industries of the future, nuclear systems, critical minerals and materials, space science and technology, and the nexus of energy security and national security. His policy development and implementation experience spans both the legislative and executive branches.

Dr. Reinke was previously the Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy of the Department of Energy (DOE). As the senior policy advisor to the Secretary, he spearheaded high-priority energy initiatives and led an interdisciplinary team of experts in crafting long-term, cross-cutting DOE strategies. Prior to DOE, Dr. Reinke served as majority professional staff on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, where he led departmental oversight and development of law spanning a range of energy issues including technology development, batteries and grid storage, workforce, microgrids and integrated energy systems, nuclear energy, and university R&D. He first joined the ENR team as the 2016 American Nuclear Society Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Fellow. As the chief architect of legislation and strategies in these roles, Dr. Reinke has worked with researchers and innovators across economic sectors.

Dr. Reinke holds his Ph.D. and M.S. in nuclear engineering, as well as his B.S. in physics and French from the Ohio State University, where he was a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow and a Nuclear Regulatory Commission Fellow. His graduate studies included radiation damage in advanced materials for space applications and the development and characterization of high-temperature radiation detectors for nuclear safeguards in molten salt reprocessing environments. His undergraduate research thesis discussed the cultural and political context of the development of the French nuclear program, during which time he also worked as a research assistant in a High Energy-Density Physics laser research group.