This April 20, 2017 photo shows the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge at sunset in Savannah, Ga. The picturesque bridge spans the Savannah River at the Georgia-South Carolina state line and connects downtown Savannah with Hutchinson Island, Ga. (AP Photo/Sally Hale) The U.S. is entering a decisive moment in the global race for artificial intelligence leadership. For the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management — responsible for one of the world’s largest and most complex environmental cleanup missions, AI is not a far-off idea, it is a practical and powerful tool we can use right now to deliver faster, safer, and more cost-effective progress.
Recent directives from President Trump are mobilizing a historic, government‑wide effort to strengthen America’s AI leadership with an urgency comparable to previous great national efforts like the Manhattan Project. The Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission stands as this generation’s great scientific endeavor.
By bringing together America’s national laboratories, leading AI companies, advanced data infrastructure and decades of scientific datasets, Genesis facilitates significant opportunities for innovation across federal missions. This approach aims to enhance efficiency, cost-effectiveness and responsiveness by supporting human expertise rather than substituting it.
Over the decades, the Office of Environmental Management has achieved many successes in meeting its cleanup goals, but the scale and complexity of the remaining work require an innovative breakthrough that transforms how we get stuff done.
We’re already seeing the benefits of AI across the environmental management portfolio with programs underway to optimize process flow, improve worker safety, and streamline analytical procedures.
Across the environmental management tank waste mission, AI and machine learning are accelerating analyses of decades of data, reducing uncertainty and helping move waste out of at-risk conditions more quickly. At the Savannah River Site, digital twins and neural-network models are replicating chemical processing facilities to identify potential improvements to filter cleaning and operational strategies, reducing downtime and mitigating implementation risks. Similar strategies are being considered at Hanford to enhance the final waste form composition and inform processing parameters, flowsheet chemistry, and final designs of the treatment facilities.
The Office of Environmental Management has been a strong proponent of technologies that reduce worker exposure in hazardous environments and minimize repetitive injuries through robotics and remote automation. The integration of machine learning with the implementation of advanced robotics in nuclear materials reprocessing can significantly minimize human radiation exposure by allowing complex handling tasks to be performed remotely in high-dose environments.
These automated systems can enhance precision and throughput, ensuring chemical separation of fissile materials is conducted with a degree of consistency and safety that exceeds manual operations. Additionally, modern robotic platforms equipped with radiation-hardened sensors can perform real-time monitoring and maintenance, extending the operational lifespan of reprocessing facilities while reducing risks.
At Hanford and Savannah River sites, employees are being reskilled to test autonomous robots guided by advanced simulation tools in high radiation areas, dramatically lowering worker exposure. Efforts to protect the environment and the surrounding public can be further enhanced by AI and machine learning tools that help monitor and predict the formation of flammable gases in the storage and processing of tank waste.
At Oak Ridge, significant progress is being made to deactivate and decommission legacy buildings to provide needed space for new national security and energy affordability missions. AI-enabled mercury‑monitoring networks and sensors are helping projects identify the safest windows for demolition workers. Extensive efforts are also underway at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to modernize the data and monitoring systems for tracking movements of disposal cells, removing the worker from this potential hazard and automating a time-consuming task.
AI is also driving smarter, more efficient environmental monitoring. At the Savannah River Site, pairing AI and machine learning with advanced sensors in groundwater remediation is reducing unnecessary sampling and improving real-time response to changing conditions. This approach could save hundreds of millions of dollars. Similar efforts have been initiated and are expanding to the Hanford and Moab sites. These real-time in-line monitoring methods coupled with historical records are being used across the portfolio to safely accelerate ground water remediation.
These examples reinforce a simple truth: Every hour saved, every avoided delay and every improvement in efficiency translates to faster cleanup and real savings for taxpayers. As AI continues to modernize and revolutionize our world, projects can be planned and executed with fewer delays, reduced risk and stronger performance. Each of these improvements reduces administrative burden on workers and contractors, while accelerating the return of land, water, and infrastructure to communities across the country.
AI is rapidly reshaping global leadership in energy, environmental and national security. America cannot afford to fall behind. Nations that lead in AI will lead in innovation and secure their prosperity. The United States has the talent, data, and scientific infrastructure to stay ahead. The Department of Environmental Management’s mission is one of the most compelling opportunities to demonstrate the power of AI in service of the public good.
Investing in and prioritizing artificial intelligence at this time can enhance workplace safety, support environmental stewardship, generate substantial savings for taxpayers and accelerate our cleanup commitments to communities by decades. Accelerated clean-up unlocks enormous potential for economic revitalization with nuclear power generation, advanced manufacturing, and AI factories creating generation jobs and community prosperity.
Now is the time to take bold actions with AI to unleash America’s leadership in scientific discoveries, security, productivity and vitality.
Timothy J. Walsh serves as assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management at the U.S. Department of Energy.
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