Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) said on the 11th that it developed an AI agent to support reactor operations by applying agentic AI for the first time in the world.
Agentic AI is a technology that has newly emerged with advances in generative AI. While conventional AI only performed simple tasks such as diagnosing the current status or operating a coolant pump, agentic AI can independently interpret and continuously carry out complex instructions like "diagnose and report the current status, and if there is an anomaly, establish and implement a mitigation strategy."
The reactor operation support AI agent developed by the research team automatically handles various operating procedures with a single simple instruction, without the operator having to perform multiple tasks directly. In other words, it goes beyond a simple program to serve as a "co-pilot." It also quickly detects reactor abnormalities and briefs the operator on the diagnosis results.
The research team verified its functions using the iPWR (Integral Pressurized Water Reactor) simulator, a small modular reactor (SMR) simulator distributed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The iPWR simulator is a multipurpose simulator used internationally, and in this experiment it successfully responded to various requests such as monitoring, control, anomaly diagnosis, and state prediction.
The research team plans to steadily improve performance by linking this achievement with AtomicGPT, the world's first nuclear-specialized large language model previously unveiled. In Aug., part of the technology was transferred to MSI Labs, and MSI Labs is developing a nuclear-specialized AI agent platform using the technology and AtomicGPT. After performance and reliability verification with a high-precision simulator, it will be applied sequentially to the research reactor "HANARO."
Deputy Minister Yoo Yong-gyun, head of the Artificial Intelligence Application Research Lab, said, "Agentic artificial intelligence is essential to enhance the safety and efficiency of next-generation nuclear power plants," adding, "We will continue research and development to implement AI agents tailored to next-generation nuclear power plants."
The results of this study were published on Aug. 8 in the international journal "Nuclear Engineering and Technology."
References
Nuclear Engineering and Technology (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2025.103842