The Department of Energy is putting $60 million behind an effort to use AI to accelerate nearly every stage of nuclear deployment, from reactor design and licensing to manufacturing, construction, fuel fabrication, and operations.
The three-year initiative, named Project Prometheus, is the first major Phase II project selected under DOE’s Genesis Mission. Led by Idaho National Laboratory, it brings together four national laboratories, universities, major tech companies, and more than 20 nuclear industry partners.
Participants include NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Oklo, TerraPower, X-energy, GE Vernova, Westinghouse, Aalo Atomics, Antares, Valar Atomics, and Deployable Energy.
The goal is to create a secure digital thread connecting engineering models, regulatory requirements, manufacturing specifications, construction records, and operating data. DOE wants AI tools to help prepare traceable licensing documents, organize decades of legacy nuclear records, accelerate safety analyses, improve manufacturing workflows, and support reactor monitoring while keeping humans responsible for final decisions.
Prometheus is targeting a 50% reduction in reactor deployment timelines and long-term operating costs. The project has also attracted more than $200 million in industry cost sharing and another $30 million in private capital and technical contributions.
Most attention has focused on using nuclear reactors to power AI, s
