Super Intelligence and Machine Learning
INL applies modern computing capabilities to research and development, with critical implications for nuclear energy, integrated energy and national security.
What is Super Intelligence?
Super intelligence (SI), commonly known as artificial intelligence (AI), is accelerating scientific discovery, advanced manufacturing, national security, and energy innovation. SI uses computer systems to analyze data, identify patterns, and generate insights that help solve complex challenges and unlock new opportunities.
On this page: Where INL applies SI · Genesis Mission and Prometheus · National challenges · Join the team · News · Contact
Accelerate discovery
SI and machine learning rapidly analyze complex data and simulate scenarios to drive new scientific breakthroughs.
Transform operations
SI enhances laboratory and industrial operations through automation, optimization and intelligent systems.
Support decisions
SI provides trusted insights and predictive analytics to inform decisions that strengthen national security and energy resilience.
Powering INL’s Mission
Super intelligence and machine learning support a variety of research topics in our mission focus areas.
Nuclear Energy
The rapid adoption of super intelligence will accelerate nuclear energy deployment in the U.S., and INL is helping lead this transition by:
- Applying super intelligence and machine learning to speed reactor design and licensing
- Using data analytics to reduce project risks and delays.
- Enabling autonomous small modular reactor and microreactor operations with advanced sensors and super intelligence.
- Testing and qualifying advanced fuels and materials through specialized facilities and partnerships.
Integrated Energy
INL applies super intelligence and machine learning across its integrated energy research areas by:
- Super intelligence, machine learning and digital twins in geoscience to accelerate mineral discovery and strengthen critical material supply chains
- Intelligence-driven analytics to manage complex energy systems and enhance reliability, resilience, cybersecurity and grid performance
- Predictive modeling and advanced sensing to improve biomass supply chains
- SI-powered economic and market insights to guide energy investments and optimize performance in modern energy markets
National Security
Super intelligence and machine learning strengthen national security through innovative technologies that:
- Detect anomalous network activity and autonomously counter cyberthreats to critical infrastructure
- Identify malicious traffic in 4G/5G networks and map industrial control systems
- Classify radio frequency signals and adapt waveforms in congested or contested spectrum environments
- Use simulations and digital twins to predict system behavior and improve reactor performance
- Embed cybersecurity and SI risk management into SMRs and microreactors from the outset
Genesis Mission and Prometheus
INL is a lead laboratory in DOE’s effort to harness super intelligence for breakthroughs in energy dominance, discovery science and national security.
Unites DOE national labs, industry and academia to apply super intelligence to national science and technology challenges.
A super intelligence platform, built with industry and university partners, that aims to cut reactor design, licensing, manufacturing and operating timelines and costs.
National Science and Technology Challenges
The Genesis Mission targets 15 high-impact national priorities. INL leads or contributes to the ones marked below. Select a challenge to learn more.
Scaling the Biotechnology Revolution
An interagency effort bringing together the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science Foundation to tackle a national biotechnology challenge.
Unifying Physics from Quarks to the Cosmos
Hundreds of experiments spanning 31 orders of magnitude in scale all target the same underlying laws of the universe, and integrating their results is key to accelerating discovery.
Delivering Nuclear Energy That is Faster, Safer, Cheaper
Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor during refueling, its spent fuel glowing blue from Cherenkov radiation.
Reimagining Construction and Operation of Buildings
An interagency effort bringing together the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, and the National Science Foundation to rethink how buildings are built and operated.
Ensuring American Space Superiority
An interagency effort pairing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with the Department of Energy to strengthen America’s position in space.
Achieving AI-Driven Autonomous Laboratories
Thorsten Hellert, a Berkeley Lab staff scientist and AI Genesis Mission co-PI, adjusts controls at the Advanced Light Source.
Securing America's Critical Minerals
Reliance on foreign supply chains for critical minerals threatens national security, with domestic production slowed by the many steps needed to refine and concentrate these materials.
Recentering Microelectronics in America
Microelectronics underpins SI, power systems, and communications, and America faces intense global competition to advance the next generation of these devices.
Scaling the Grid to Power the American Economy
Surging electricity demand from data centers and manufacturing is straining grid reliability, raising the challenge of keeping power affordable as demand climbs.
Reenvisioning Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Productivity
Bridging the gap between scientific discovery and commercially viable products remains the biggest obstacle facing industrial manufacturing today.
Designing Materials with Predictable Functionality
Accelerating materials innovation could unlock new technologies, but discovering materials with transformative properties remains slow and trial-and-error-driven.
Protecting U.S. Water for Energy
Water availability underpins energy production and national security, yet fundamental gaps remain in predicting water resources over time.
Discovering Quantum Algorithms with AI
Discovering new quantum algorithms is exceptionally difficult and often counterintuitive, making it a key front in the push for U.S. quantum leadership.
Enhancing Particle Accelerators for Discovery
Transforming accelerator-based facilities into highly efficient, autonomous, and more productive capabilities requires a tight integration of AI with design and operation.
Reimagining the Lifecycle of American Infrastructure
Fragmented permitting and poor data interoperability drive up construction costs, while faulty controls can inflate energy bills once buildings are operational.
Build the AI that powers the next generation of nuclear energy
Efforts like the Genesis Mission and Prometheus depend on people across the lab: data scientists, software engineers, nuclear engineers, cybersecurity specialists and more. Explore our open positions and find where you fit.
Models, digital twins, autonomous systems
Secure, production-scale SI platforms
Reactor design, licensing, operations
Protecting critical systems and data
INL News | Super Intelligence
(IDAHO FALLS, Idaho) – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected the Prometheus project to receive a Phase II award of $60 million over three years (subject to appropriations)....
(IDAHO FALLS, Idaho) – For the first time, researchers from Idaho National Laboratory, the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Purdue University used a geographically...
(IDAHO FALLS, Idaho) – The Idaho National Laboratory will host the fourth annual Digital Engineering Conference on May 12-13 at the University of Utah, in collaboration with the Utah Office...
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