Working to automate nuclear plant operations
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. 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.
Key Takeaways
- Watch Video Poornima Apte | Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Publication Date : July 24, 2026 Press Inquiries Press Contact : Ilavenil Subbiah Email: subbiah@mit.
edu Nuclear Science and Engineering : "The collaborations with other people and the relationships we have established with stakeholders have really helped make an impact and supported the relevancy of the work," says Lauren Fortier.
- "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.
- Fortier opted for nuclear engineering at MIT as an extension of her work.
"My experiences in nuclear up until then had been overwhelmingly positive, so I thought I would build on them and move from the operations realm to the academic realm," Fortier says.
- Play video Lauren Fortier: In pursuit of autonomous nuclear plant operations In pursuit of autonomous nuclear plant operations It turns out the research for the master's was just the tip of the iceberg.
- " Fortier wanted one integrated approach, a central supervisory control system instead of many interlinked parts.
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.
Watch Video Poornima Apte | Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Publication Date : July 24, 2026 Press Inquiries Press Contact : Ilavenil Subbiah Email: subbiah@mit. edu Nuclear Science and Engineering : "The collaborations with other people and the relationships we have established with stakeholders have really helped make an impact and supported the relevancy of the work," says Lauren Fortier. 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. aircraft carrier deep in the South China Sea.
For more details please read the original article at MIT News AI.
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