ARLINGTON, Va. – Someone who mistakenly stumbled into the Department of Energy’s National Cleanup Workshop without an agenda might be excused for confusing it with a conference on artificial intelligence (AI).
Many conversations from the podium and in the hallways here this week have focused to some extent on the potential and perils of AI.
The DOE has already announced plans for data centers to support AI at DOE nuclear sites such as the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky among others.
Nevertheless, “this people part is critical,” said Heatherly Dukes, president of BWXT Technical Services. Dukes, who identifies herself as an eager user of artificial intelligence, chaired a Wednesday after-panel discussion on AI implementation within the DOE nuclear complex.
At a time of headlines about AI threatening jobs and worse, speakers from DOE and contractors discussed how AI can be used as a time saver across the complex.
Tom Burns, president of Savannah River Mission Solutions in South Carolina, discussed how AI helped increase productivity at Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility. “View this as a partner not a predator.” Burns said. “It’s a lot adding 30 extra IQ points.”
Many people at the Clearnup Workshop are old enough to remember when Netflix used advanced technology to replace the old Blockbuster Video company, Eric Pierce, an associate lab director at Savannah River National Laboratory. “Netflix is also making offerings to you using AI tools to give you a new movie that is available and is similar to to the one that you saw before,” Pierce said.
AI allows staff to spend less time on rote tasks and spend more time on what humans do well, said John Dupuy, chief technology officer at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.
Traditionally tough engineering problems at nuclear sites have been handled by an old guy in the back of the room with a lot of technical books, said Karthik Subramanian, chief engineer and innovation officer for Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C). Increasingly, these problems will be solved with the assistance of AI. This is important, he added, noting federal layoffs and early retirements.
During the DOE Cleanup Workshop in Arlington, Va., Undersecretary of Science Dario Gil said part of the problem is that the public hears many horror stories about AI, while supporters have been “horrible” at detailing the good things about AI.