TLDR: Atomic Canyon has announced a strategic partnership with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to develop and publicly release the nuclear industry’s first comprehensive benchmark suite for evaluating retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and large language models (LLMs). This collaboration aims to establish crucial standards for the safe and effective adoption of AI in nuclear facility operations, addressing the industry’s need for objective evaluation methods for generative AI systems in highly regulated nuclear environments.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., and IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – September 9, 2025 – Atomic Canyon, a leading developer of AI-powered search and generative AI tools tailored for the nuclear power industry, today unveiled a significant partnership with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This collaboration marks a pivotal step towards integrating advanced artificial intelligence into nuclear operations by focusing on the creation and public release of the first comprehensive benchmark suite designed to evaluate retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and large language models (LLMs) within nuclear applications.
The initiative is set to establish critical standards for the adoption of AI in nuclear facility operations, directly addressing a long-standing industry demand for objective and rigorous evaluation methods for generative AI systems in the unique and highly sensitive nuclear environment. Nuclear facilities and national laboratories possess vast amounts of historical data, including decades of operating logs, maintenance records, and engineering drawings, much of which is currently inaccessible, being stored in scanned PDFs or proprietary repositories. The new benchmark suite will empower nuclear operators to effectively evaluate AI systems capable of accessing and processing this extensive public nuclear documentation through advanced retrieval-augmented generation techniques.
Trey Lauderdale, CEO of Atomic Canyon, emphasized the significance of this partnership, stating, “This partnership represents a pivotal moment for the nuclear industry’s digital transformation. Nuclear facilities require the highest standards of safety and compliance, and our collaboration with INL will establish the gold standard for evaluating AI systems in nuclear environments. These benchmarks will give utilities, regulators, and technology vendors a common framework for ensuring AI systems meet the rigorous demands of nuclear operations while maintaining the absolute highest levels of safety and security.”
INL will play a crucial role by contributing its unparalleled nuclear subject-matter expertise and providing access to curated public datasets. The benchmark tasks will be meticulously designed to focus on real-world nuclear workflows, encompassing essential functions such as document retrieval, regulatory compliance checks, and the accurate answering of complex technical questions. Christopher Ritter, Division Director of Scientific Computing & AI and director of the Digital Innovation Center of Excellence (DICE) at Idaho National Laboratory, highlighted the practical impact, saying, “This partnership with Atomic Canyon will establish the benchmarks needed to effectively deploy AI across the nuclear enterprise. By creating standardized evaluation methods, we’re enabling the industry to confidently adopt AI technologies that can accelerate nuclear energy deployment for America.”
Atomic Canyon’s broader mission involves building the most advanced generative AI platform for the nuclear industry. Their flagship product, Neutron Enterprise, offers AI-powered capabilities across vast repositories of technical documentation at nuclear facilities, securely connecting to internal and external authoritative data sources to enable nuclear professionals to access critical information rapidly. The company is also involved in other significant projects, including a partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to use the Frontier supercomputer for training specialized AI models and the first commercial deployment of on-site generative AI at PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
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This collaboration with INL is expected to significantly advance the nuclear industry’s ability to leverage AI for enhanced safety, efficiency, and compliance, paving the way for a more streamlined and secure future for nuclear energy.
