MIT Professor Sees AI as Key to Nuclear Power's Future

Dean Price believes artificial intelligence can help advance the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Apr. 3, 2026 at 8:55pm

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A bold, geometric abstract painting in soft earth tones, featuring sweeping arcs, concentric circles, and precise botanical spirals, conceptually representing the complex physical processes and forces at work within an advanced nuclear reactor.An abstract illustration captures the intricate interplay of physical forces within a next-generation nuclear reactor, harnessing AI to unlock new levels of safety and efficiency.Urbana Today

MIT Assistant Professor Dean Price is working to advance nuclear power in the United States, seeing a bright future for the technology and believing AI and machine learning can play a crucial role. Price is focused on developing new multiphysics modeling techniques and AI-powered approaches to improve the design, safety, and operation of advanced nuclear reactors like small modular reactors and microreactors.

Why it matters

Nuclear power currently provides nearly 20% of the United States' electricity, but Price believes the industry needs to do much more to deliver carbon-free energy as alternatives to fossil fuels are desperately needed. Advancing nuclear technology through AI-powered innovations could help make nuclear power safer, more economical, and more flexible to deploy.

The details

Price's research focuses on multiphysics modeling, which looks at how different physical processes like neutronics and thermal hydraulics interact within a nuclear reactor core. He is exploring how AI and machine learning can help correlate these complex processes, bypassing the need to solve difficult nonlinear equations. This could lead to faster, cheaper reactor design and more intelligent control systems to operate plants safely and efficiently.

  • Price joined the MIT faculty in September 2025.
  • Price co-taught a nuclear design course at MIT in the fall of 2025.

The players

Dean Price

An MIT assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the Atlantic Richfield Career Development Professor in Energy Studies, who is working to advance the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Curtis Smith

The KEPCO Professor of the Practice of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT, who co-taught a design course with Price.

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What they’re saying

“Nuclear energy has been a tremendous part of our nation's energy infrastructure for the past 60 years, and the number of people who maintain that infrastructure is incredibly small. By becoming a nuclear engineer, you become one of a select number of people responsible for carbon-free energy generation in the United States.”

— Dean Price, MIT Assistant Professor

“If you ever want to change your power level, or do anything with the reactor, the temperature of the fuel is a critical input that you need to know. Multiphysics modeling allows us to correlate the fission neutronics processes with a thermal property, temperature. That, in turn, can help us predict how the reactor will behave under different conditions.”

— Dean Price, MIT Assistant Professor

What’s next

Price plans to continue developing AI-powered approaches to improve the design and operation of advanced nuclear reactors, with the goal of making nuclear power safer, more economical, and more flexible to deploy.

The takeaway

By leveraging AI and machine learning, MIT Professor Dean Price is working to unlock the full potential of nuclear power and help usher in a new era of safer, more efficient, and more flexible nuclear energy generation.