The Department of Energy is investing $27M in efforts to develop nuclear reactor frameworks via digital twin technology, a simulation-based development approach.
DOE said Wednesday it will pursue these nine projects under the Generating Electricity Managed by Intelligent Nuclear Assets or GEMINA program. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy manages GEMINA.
Digital twins virtually model a system to reduce the costs of a system's development and automate some activities. This approach reduces the need for physical tests that would require higher costs.
Teams will use digital twins, artificial intelligence and other modern tools to develop frameworks that would reduce operational and maintenance costs of nuclear power plants.
“These GEMINA teams are working to develop tools for the advanced reactors of tomorrow to improve operations and lower maintenance costs by designing more autonomous and efficient processes," said Lane Genatowski, ARPA-E director.
