The energy industry, specifically the nuclear sector, is staring down a challenging 2026 with a combination of mounting pressure: tech giants shaking hands on purchasing agreements before facilities are fully built, innovative solutions reinventing the methods of long-established leaders, and mounting demands to deliver efficiency faster. Does that sound familiar?
COMMENTARY
If you’ve had an eye on the aerospace industry, it just might. That’s because—even with their differences in risks, regulatory guardrails, and operational realities—aerospace leaders worked under similar conditions for the past decade. I felt the weight of it firsthand, both as an on-the-ground engineer and now as a founder. The lessons we learned the hard, often public way, may offer a roadmap for nuclear and fusion operators speeding towards their own industry’s inflection point.
During my time at SpaceX as a Missions Operations Engineer, I managed high-stakes operations where seemingly small procedural errors could risk lives. While our industries look different at face value, our underlying test is the same: learning to adapt and thrive under pressure, all while maintaining operational rigor when the margin for error is zero.
The knee-jerk answer I saw too often to this problem was to implement shiny new technology. But harnessing tools to move faster and meet rising demand without building a strong execution foundation first just accentuates the problem, or worse, it adds complexity to already impossibly complicated operations. What I’ve learned, both as an engineer and working with nuclear and fusion teams as the CEO and co-founder of a software startup, is that the key is actually building an ironclad operational foundation to handle current pressures—which, at the same time, fortifies an organization for the changes to come.
That’s because technology is only as capable as your team’s ability to use it securely and efficiently. Early missions relied on brilliant teams compensating for disparate systems. That approach doesn’t scale, and it definitely won’t work for operations as complex as managing a nuclear facility or coordinating fusion experiments across international teams.
Your team needs to execute their set of tasks safely to rise to nuclear and fusion’s current moment. Chasing innovation is possible, but only when a strong operational foundation acts as the ground supporting that ambition.
Here are the three fundamental factors I’ve seen make a real difference toward building that foundation.
1) Limiting Risk—and Increasing Innovation—Starts with Unified Operations
Fragmented spreadsheets and disconnected software create gaps—and gaps are where dangerous mistakes happen.
I know from my own on-console experience that operators can’t afford to toggle between ten different systems during a critical moment. These roles require split-second decision-making, which is virtually impossible when crucial information and workflows are scattered across systems. Operational software needed to absorb growing complexity, not add to it.
Nuclear and fusion operations face the same reality. The materials operators deal with on a day-to-day basis are scarce and, often, dangerous if they break down. Nuclear operators’ full attention needs to be on the task at hand, informed by unified data from a meticulous history of previous experiments and procedures. Outside of risk, the pace of nuclear innovation demands it. The domino impacts of unstandardized formatting or disparate systems can compound over time into serious project delays or manpower demand.
Those operational inefficiencies, often written off as an administrative burden, are fixable. In my experience working with companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, key operational changes—user-friendly review and version control, standardized formatting, a pre-organized procedure database—help deliver real gains when moving efficiently from prototype to fully functional plant.
In high-stakes industries, we’re forced to weigh innovation against risk. Unifying your operations is a necessary move that reduces both, giving your teams the ability to move faster without safety compromises.
2) Focus More on What Supports Your AI
Deploying smart automation requires standardized procedures, data visibility, and teams that are capable of recognizing when automation fails. Missing even one of these is risking a major incident that puts lives in danger.
At the same time, I’m seeing a cross-industry rush to implement artificial intelligence (AI) wherever it might fit. AI works where skilled operators use their experience and critical thinking skills in parallel, where AI is an accelerator to human ingenuity. We need to refocus on the human element and foundational technology that makes systems work before deploying AI in high-risk environments. Strategically implemented AI works best when your operations are already disciplined. If your teams are still juggling spreadsheets and logging critical decisions in disconnected systems, adding AI only automates the chaos it’s built upon.
Advanced technology, especially AI, isn’t a set-it-and-forget solution. It won’t clean up the lingering loose ends in your operational processes and systems—it’s not meant to, either. If anything, it’s more likely to expose the problems that persist underneath instead.
Fix your operational foundation first. Then, deploy AI to amplify and enhance your already proven workforce.
3) Real-Time Action, Powered by Real-Time Collaboration
Mission-critical operations don’t happen in a single control room anymore. Your teams are spread across facilities, time zones, and organizations. Success depends on the ability to operate as one cohesive unit.
The growing nuclear fusion sector is proof. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a megaproject involving 35 countries coordinating reactor development across continents. That kind of global scale requires real-time data, which is only made accessible through constant information-sharing and collaboration across the international scientific community. In parallel, private sector players that are pushing us further towards the commercialization of nuclear fusion reactors experiment and test at facilities far from their designated fusion power plant site.
With a single project’s core team potentially spanning across the entire globe, operators can’t afford to wait for the next shift change or email chain. In space, we dealt with this constantly. Launches are often completed with multiple control rooms—like Florida and Houston—working together as one. Every handoff was a potential failure point. Distributed operations only work when everyone has access to the same real-time information, standardized procedures, and direct communication.
These constraints cross traditional industry divisions. Real-time updates, shared procedures, and traceable decisions are what keep distributed operations running.
At a certain point, the aerospace industry faced a choice. We could continue to patch together disconnected systems, layering emerging technology on top and hoping their teams can compensate. Or we could take a close look at their foundations today and build a strong base for the long-term.
In my conversations with nuclear and fusion leaders, I’m seeing that same choice play out on an accelerated timeline. Demand for innovative, clean energy solutions is rising—and necessary. Increases in public interest will lead to public scrutiny. New, complex technologies are advancing faster than ever. The chances of a major error will only intensify if your teams are already stretched thin.
If you take one lesson from aerospace, let it be this: as a leader in a high-risk industry, your team’s operational problems won’t disappear. If anything, it can feel like they’ve multiplied as a sector matures. The goal is sustainability and scale: to give your team the tools and processes to spot, rectify, and monitor these issues seamlessly.
The operational solutions to course-correct emerging operational red flags exist—and, perhaps most importantly, the window to build a solid foundation is still open. But, as I learned watching the commercial aerospace grow before my eyes, it won’t stay open forever.
—Laura Crabtree is the founder and CEO of Epsilon3, an operating system built for complex industries. Prior to launching Epsilon3, Laura spent more than 10 years at SpaceX as a Crew Operations & Resource Engineer (CORE), and supporting critical missions like SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
