Participants of the high-level roundtable on the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate SMRs, organised during the World Governments Summit on 11 February 2025 in collaboration with the NEA.
The NEA has launched RegLab, a new initiative to enable the safe and efficient application of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance regulatory readiness and thereby facilitating the development and deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs). The initiative was announced by NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 11 February 2025.
“The nuclear sector needs to be bold to harness the potential of AI to facilitate the efficient development of safe and sustainable SMR projects,” said Director-General Magwood. “There are uncertainties associated with any new technology that must be addressed, and AI is certainly no exception. The RegLab initiative is a multinational effort to reduce some of these uncertainties and help overcome obstacles to safe application of AI in SMR licensing and deployment.”
NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV at the World Goverments Summit 2025 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The RegLab project will bring together government bodies to collaborate through regulatory sandboxing exercises that will start in mid-2025. It will allow participants with technical, operational and regulatory expertise to explore how innovation proposals can be regulated and deployed.
Working in co-operation with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the initiative will bring together the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), the United Kingdom’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Authority of Nuclear Regulation (FANR) of the United Arab Emirates.
Other nuclear regulators and research organisations are invited to join the RegLab project.
