Westinghouse Electric Company and Google Cloud announced they are collaborating to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to transform the construction of advanced Westinghouse nuclear reactors into an efficient, repeatable process and enhance the operations of existing nuclear power plants using data-driven insights.
Together, the two companies will pair Westinghouse’s powerful HiVE™ and bertha™ nuclear AI solutions with Google Cloud technologies and expertise to streamline construction of new nuclear plants. AI tools will also improve the current nuclear fleet with data-driven AI insights.
“As the only fully licensed, construction ready modular reactor available today, our AP1000® technology is the quickest way to add new sources of affordable and abundant nuclear energy to the U.S. grid,” said Dan Sumner, Westinghouse Interim Chief Executive Officer. “By partnering with Google Cloud to enhance our HiVE and bertha technology, and backed by 75 years of our proprietary nuclear data, we can accelerate the deployment of new AP1000 units while implementing powerful AI technologies that will optimize the construction and operations of nuclear power plants.”
“This partnership with Westinghouse combines Google Cloud’s AI technologies and expertise with Westinghouse’s century-long expertise in nuclear innovation to chart a new path towards a smarter and safer future,” said Kyle Jessen, Managing Director, Commercial Industries, Google Cloud. “Artificial intelligence is not merely a tool; it can give companies a critical competitive advantage. Westinghouse is demonstrating what’s possible.”
As part of this collaboration, Westinghouse and Google Cloud have successfully achieved a first-of-a-kind proof of concept leveraging Westinghouse’s WNEXUS digital plant design platform and HiVE artificial intelligence enhanced by Google Cloud technologies, including Vertex AI, Gemini and BigQuery, to autonomously generate and optimize AP1000 modular construction work packages.
In September 2024, Westinghouse introduced HiVE and bertha, which are built from more than 75 years of proprietary data, knowledge and expertise. These nuclear-specific AI solutions are supported by dedicated nuclear engineers, and will optimize new nuclear deployment of our AP1000 reactor, AP300™ small modular reactors and eVinci® microreactor technologies. Westinghouse’s AI solutions are ready to support power plant operations by helping to deliver reliable and cost-effective electricity to homes and businesses.
