The US Department of Energy (DOE) has successfully demonstrated the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to streamline the nuclear regulatory process.

The DOE said that in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Lab, tech giant Microsoft and US AI company Everstar, it used AI mapping to convert a safety analysis document required under the DOE’s authorisation pathway for advanced reactor demonstrations into US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing documents for commercial deployment.

Everstar called the project a “sophisticated licensing challenge” that was completed in 24 hours – a task that that would have taken about 200 person-days with an expert team.