“The Energy Department’s Argonne National Laboratory, based in Lemont, Ill. and known for its work on nuclear reactors, has developed an AI-based tool that can assist with reactor design and help operators run nuclear plants, according to Richard Vilim, a senior nuclear engineer within the lab’s nuclear science and engineering division.

Argonne’s tool, called the Parameter-Free Reasoning Operator for Automated Identification and Diagnosis, or PRO-AID, marks a technological leap in a field that saw its heyday in the last quarter of the 20th century…

PRO-AID performs real-time monitoring and diagnostics using generative AI combined with large language models that notify and explain to staff when something seems amiss at a plant. It also uses a form of automated reasoning—which uses mathematical logic to encode knowledge in AI systems—to mimic the way a human operator asks questions and comes to understand how the plant is operating, Vilim said.”

From Wall Street Journal.