Artificial intelligence could lower nuclear energy costs

Unlike fossil fuel-fired power plants, nuclear power plants provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity. But the expense of running these plants has made it difficult for them to stay open. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are building systems that could make nuclear energy more competitive using artificial intelligence. Argonne is midway through a $1 million, three-year project to explore how smart, computerized systems could change the economics. Funded by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies program, the project aims to create a computer architecture that could detect problems early and recommend appropriate actions to human operators.