{"id":371839,"date":"2026-07-25T20:16:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=371839"},"modified":"2026-07-25T20:16:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:46:50","slug":"working-to-automate-nuclear-plant-operations-mit-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/working-to-automate-nuclear-plant-operations-mit-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Working to automate nuclear plant operations | MIT News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In pursuit of autonomous nuclear plant operations<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems the research for the master\u2019s was just the tip of the iceberg. There was still work left to be done.<\/p>\n

For the longer term viability of nuclear power, small plants, positioned in rural areas, are a definite possibility. Up to now, operations conducted in legacy plants have involved intensive manual operations, that are viable because these facilities operate at 100% capability and the ability delivered can justify the prices of maintaining a big staff. But microreactors distributed at scale and in distant areas can\u2019t afford a big bench of human talent. It\u2019s where supervised and thoroughly vetted autonomous operations will help.<\/p>\n

A primary query was: \u201cHow will we transition to autonomous operations in nuclear power plants?\u201d Fortier wanted one integrated approach, a central supervisory control system as an alternative of many interlinked parts. While a legitimate requirement, the challenge here was in modifying operations that were primarily meant for humans to now also include machines.<\/p>\n

Fortier realized that irrespective of how thorough the framework for a supervisory control system, its scope can be severely limited if its rigidity couldn\u2019t accommodate each humans and machines. \u201cBecause all the pieces is human-centric, it doesn\u2019t will let you select one of the best technique to do a procedure,\u201d Fortier observes. What if, as an alternative, humans and computers could tag-team and do what each does best, with strategic human intervention only delivered as obligatory?<\/p>\n

MIT-facilitated collaborations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The goal was elegant, but its scope prolonged far beyond a master\u2019s thesis. A doctorate gave the impression of a natural progression, so Fortier has continued her research toward a PhD after completing her master\u2019s in 2025.<\/p>\n

It was in pursuit of autonomous operations that Fortier discovered the ability of collaborations at MIT. Her research advisor, Sacit Cetiner, has a joint appointment with MIT NSE and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). To deal with the challenge of devising an autonomous supervisory control system with an efficient and simply adopted human-machine interface, Fortier worked with Katya Le Blanc, a senior human aspects scientist at INL. A collaboration with the Human System Simulation Laboratory at INL helped Fortier develop a greater understanding of designing cyber-physical systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very much an engineer and don\u2019t have loads of experience in human behavior, so the collaboration with INL was an enormous profit for me. I got higher insights into many facets, including what you wish to see when a human has to take over for a machine when it\u2019s not working,\u201d Fortier says.<\/p>\n

She also availed of collaborations with Westinghouse, a number one design organization and vendor for current- and next-generation nuclear power plants \u2014 Fortier accomplished a summer internship there in 2025 \u2014 to check drive ideas she had about autonomous operations solutions.<\/p>\n

At MIT, Fortier learned control theory from one in every of her co-advisors, Anuradha Annaswamy, a founder and director of the Energetic-Adaptive Control Laboratory within the Department of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cShe\u2019s a control systems expert, which really advantages me because while I can explain what to do with a nuclear power plant, she may also help me understand higher go about operations from a control systems perspective,\u201d Fortier says.<\/p>\n

Annaswamy advises Fortier on supervisory control system framework and execution. Fortier has also been taking classes related to regulate systems related classes to construct a foundation within the discipline. Curtis Smith<\/a>, the previous director for INL\u2019s Nuclear Safety and Regulatory Research Division, and now KEPCO Professor of the Practice of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT NSE, is Fortier\u2019s other co-advisor.<\/p>\n

A step-by-step progression toward autonomy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fortier clarifies that the operations systems she\u2019s designing will incorporate a gradual and systematic move toward autonomy in order to construct trust with users. \u201cAfter we introduce an automatic procedure that walks you step-by-step through what you can be doing anyway, it’s reassuring and builds trust,\u201d Fortier points out. Her doctoral work focuses on incorporating objective-oriented operations where a control system can create the sequence of events needed to achieve the target, reasonably than follow a predetermined operating procedure.<\/p>\n

One other point of reassurance is that Fortier is developing automation based on a process called finite state automata, which, unlike AI, could be very transparent in its execution. The benefits of finite state automata, which she also studied extensively during an internship at INL in summer 2024, is that it\u2019s a discrete event system. Because of this every move within the automation framework is event-driven \u2014 if this happens, do this \u2014 so it adjusts for current conditions within the plant and transitions between various states or events very clearly. It\u2019s addressing a posh problem through conventional automation, not AI-driven automation. \u201cWe\u2019re not using a data-driven statistical approach like machine learning because we don’t yet have the tools to validate the operation of such systems,\u201d Fortier says.<\/p>\n

Future impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

So promising is Fortier\u2019s work on developing automation for nuclear plants that she was one in every of the winners of the 2025 edition of the Innovations in Nuclear Energy Research and Development Student Competition from the Department of Energy\u2019s Nuclear Energy University Program.<\/p>\n

Using the nuclear plant automation program on next-generation equipment will deliver obligatory traction in developing and deploying business microreactors.<\/p>\n

But first will come the work of scaling the supervisory control system, borrowing from insights gained from work on a small aspect of control. Fortier is worked up concerning the road and the chances that await. \u201cThe collaborations with other people, and the relationships now we have established with stakeholders, have really helped make an impact and supported the relevancy of the work,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes while you\u2019re stuck in your individual bubble, that outside perspective is admittedly useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In pursuit of autonomous nuclear plant operations It seems the research for the master\u2019s was just the tip of the iceberg. There was still work left to be done. For the longer term viability of nuclear power, small plants, positioned in rural areas, are a definite possibility. Up to now, operations conducted in legacy plants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":371840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[6986,182,395,5897,2212,2360,2250],"class_list":["post-371839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-automate","tag-mit","tag-news","tag-nuclear","tag-operations","tag-plant","tag-working"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t