Hold onto your radiation suits, tech enthusiasts - Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is diving headfirst into the wild world of artificial intelligence, and it’s way more exciting than your average Silicon Valley startup pitch.

Pacific Gas & Electric has partnered with Atomic Canyon, a local AI startup, to deploy “Neutron Enterprise” - a groundbreaking document retrieval system that’s essentially a super-powered search engine for nuclear regulations. Imagine having an AI assistant that can instantly navigate through millions of pages of mind-numbingly complex technical documents faster than a nuclear reactor can generate electricity.

From Tech Skepticism to AI Embrace

Trey Lauderdale, Atomic Canyon’s founder, isn’t trying to replace nuclear plant workers with robots (yet). His goal is simple: help employees find information more efficiently. Currently, workers spend around 15,000 hours annually hunting through databases - a process that sounds about as fun as watching paint dry in a containment facility.

Safety First, Innovation Second

Despite the exciting tech, lawmakers and experts are keeping a cautious eye on the implementation. Democratic Assemblymember Dawn Addis has “many unanswered questions” about safety and job implications. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is also watching closely, recognizing that combining nuclear technology with AI requires some serious guardrails.

Looking to the Future

While Neutron Enterprise is currently limited to document retrieval, the partnership opens fascinating possibilities for AI integration in nuclear energy. Lauderdale hints at future expansions, promising that they’re taking a careful, step-by-step approach to introducing artificial intelligence into this highly sensitive environment.

One thing’s for certain: Diablo Canyon is proving that even nuclear power plants can get a Silicon Valley-style tech makeover. Who said nuclear energy can’t be cutting-edge?