The need: With the California Energy Commission forecasting power demand across the state to rise by 43 percent in the next 15 years, Diablo Canyon’s generation becomes an even more critical asset in the state.
Quotable: “As the first nuclear power plant to implement Neutron Enterprise using the Nvidia platform, we’re proud to lead the way in bringing cutting-edge innovation to our operations. Atomic Canyon’s AI solutions will enable faster data retrieval, boosting collaboration and ensuring continued safe, but more efficient, operations. Accessing critical information in seconds will let us focus on what truly matters—delivering reliable clean energy safely and affordably,” said Maureen Zawalick, vice president of business and technical services at Diablo Canyon.
A closer look: Federal and state regulations require nuclear power utilities to manage a large amount of technical documentation, which is generally stored across multiple systems. Power plant personnel must spend both time and resources to retrieve this essential data accurately and reliably.
The Neutron Enterprise program will help manage these vast datasets, integrating with the plant’s systems, using the latest optical character recognition (OCR), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and AI-powered search technology to reduce search times from hours to seconds—saving time and money without sacrificing safety and reliability.
The players: Atomic Canyon is a California-based company pioneering AI specialized for the nuclear energy sector. In addition to Diablo Canyon, the company is partnering with government agencies, national laboratories, and manufacturers of next-generation reactors.
Diablo Canyon is California’s only remaining nuclear power plant, and it generates nearly 9 percent of the state’s electricity (accounting for 17 percent of California’s zero-carbon energy).
Team effort: Neutron Enterprise is powered by Atomic Canyon’s FERMI family of AI models, developed in collaboration with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and specifically designed for the nuclear energy sector. With FERMI’s domain expertise, Neutron Enterprise leverages cutting-edge generative AI and RAG to revolutionize how nuclear facilities access, draft, and collaborate on critical documentation.
Trey Lauderdale, founder and chief executive of Atomic Canyon, said, “The commercial launch of Neutron Enterprise at Diablo Canyon marks a pivotal moment for the nuclear energy sector. With skyrocketing energy demands and increased support from tech leaders, we are witnessing the growing excitement and need for nuclear energy in real time. This is the future of nuclear plant operations, and we’re just scratching the surface.”
“AI is unlocking new possibilities in highly regulated industries like nuclear energy. PG&E’s deployment of the Atomic Canyon solution, built with Nvidia technologies, showcases how AI can contribute to increased operational efficiency by enabling utilities to focus on delivering critical services safely and effectively,” said Marc Spieler, senior managing director of the global energy industry at Nvidia.
