MIT Researcher Develops 2025 Award-Winning Nuclear Plant Automation for Microreactors
Updated
Updated · MIT News · Jul 24
MIT Researcher Develops 2025 Award-Winning Nuclear Plant Automation for Microreactors
1 articles · Updated · MIT News · Jul 24
Summary
Lauren Fortier, a second-year MIT doctoral student, is building objective-oriented automation that lets nuclear control systems generate operating steps to reach a target instead of following fixed procedures.
The work targets a core cost problem: small and remote microreactors cannot support the large staffs that legacy plants use for manual, 100%-capacity operations.
Fortier is using finite state automata rather than AI or machine learning, arguing the event-driven approach is more transparent and easier to validate for safety-critical plant control.
Her research extends a 2025 MIT master’s project on supervisory control and is designed as a gradual human-machine handoff to build operator trust before deeper autonomy.
Collaborations with Idaho National Laboratory, Westinghouse and MIT advisers helped shape the system, which won a 2025 DOE nuclear energy student competition and could support commercial microreactor deployment.
Can autonomous nuclear reactors win the economic race against cheaper, more flexible renewable energy?
As operators are replaced by code, what new safeguards will prevent a digital Chernobyl?
As the US military pursues mobile reactors, what stops them from becoming battlefield targets?
Achieving Verifiable Autonomous Nuclear Plant Operations: Lauren Fortier’s Finite State Automata Approach and the Path to Industry Deployment (2025-2026)
Overview
Lauren Fortier has played a leading role in advancing the automation of nuclear plant operations by collaborating with Westinghouse and testing her autonomous solutions in real-world settings. Her work focuses on moving the nuclear industry from manual to autonomous systems, aiming to improve safety, efficiency, and economic viability. By developing and refining innovative automation ideas, Fortier helps create technologies that enhance nuclear facility management. This drive for automation is part of a broader effort in the nuclear energy sector to modernize operations and ensure reliable, cost-effective power generation for the future.