Idaho National Laboratory and NVIDIA, a worldwide artificial intelligence corporation, are partnering to accelerate the development of nuclear energy.
Because nuclear energy is such a potent resource, it can be used in a variety of ways, including the production and development of construction parts and medicine, and it has even helped with U.S. naval fleets.
Christopher Ritter is the division director of scientific computing and AI at INL. He shares an example of how AI can help develop safer nuclear reactor materials.
"A part that goes into a power plant has to have a much higher safety paradigm than something you would pick up from a department store," Ritter said. "There's always small anomalies in almost anything made by a human, so we are looking to improve the in-line quality checking of those parts so that when it comes off the line, you know it's good to go."
Idaho National Laboratory is one of 17 labs within the U.S. Department of Energy that are part of the overarching Genesis Mission.
With NIVIDA being one of the most valuable companies in the world, Ritter says INL’s partnership with NVIDIA is important for several reasons.
"They're arguably one of the most important technology companies in the AI revolution period," Ritter said. "When we were at the lab and we were looking at who we would partner with to solve some of our hardest problems we have with nuclear energy, we thought NVIDIA was just a natural fit for us. This partnership is actively investing in the future of the entire country."
Ritter says the two sides are "making progress on an hourly basis," and they expect to see the first results of the project this year.
Ritter says BYU-Idaho students can also be involved with AI.
"Keep your domain knowledge in whatever that is, whether that's chemistry or biology," Ritter said. "It's still going to be really important, but ff you're not using the latest version of one of these AI tools every day, today's the day to start. I'd recommend downloading your favorite AI app onto your phone and making sure that every day, you're learning what these models are capable of. It changes so quick."
For more information on the project, visit INL's website.