X-Energy Leverages AI to Boost Nuclear Reactor Development

X-Energy is a nuclear company that has been public since April and is already using AI to accelerate its reactor development. The company has joined Project Prometheus, an initiative led by Idaho National Laboratory, Nvidia, and Amazon, which aims to integrate advanced AI models into various aspects of reactor design, regulatory documentation, manufacturing, construction, fuel fabrication, and semi-autonomous operations.

The Xe-100 is X-Energy's primary reactor, a small modular reactor with 80-megawatt capacity. The company already has serious customers, including Dow Inc., Amazon, and Centrica, which are working on projects in Texas, the U.S., and the UK respectively. X-Energy says its project pipeline consists of 144 reactors representing approximately 11.5 gigawatts of potential capacity.

The biggest obstacle for X-Energy is getting those reactors built, as nuclear projects have historically suffered from long development timelines, expensive engineering work, and construction delays. However, AI could potentially improve the economics of X-Energy's pipeline by speeding up design iterations, producing regulatory documentation, and optimizing fuel fabrication.