Working to automate nuclear plant operations

For nuclear to be considered as a viable clean energy source, it has to be competitively priced and economical to produce. Lauren Fortier, formerly a Naval officer and now a doctoral student in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, is helping the cause by facilitating remote operation and autonomous control of nuclear plants. PhD student Lauren Fortier is building on the experience she gained operating a nuclear plant for the Navy to solve a critical hurdle in the wider adoption of the energy source.

Credits : Photo: Gretchen Ertl Previous image Next image For nuclear to be considered as a viable clean energy source, it has to be competitively priced and economical to produce. Lauren Fortier, a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is helping the cause by developing remote operation protocols for autonomous control of nuclear plants. After an undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University - Fortier attended on an ROTC scholarship - she supervised nuclear plant operations on a U.S. aircraft carrier deep in the South China Sea.

"It was a unique experience that you don't easily see anywhere else, especially the complete reliance on nuclear power. The only way you're moving through the ocean is if you have that nuclear reactor working," she says. Working as a naval nuclear operator, Fortier fell in love with the operations aspects of it all, learning the science behind plant operations.