Curtiss-Wright Joins DOE-Funded Project to Develop Nuclear Reactors’ Digital Twin Tech; Lynn Bamford Quoted

Curtiss-Wright will take part in a multidisciplinary team working on the Secure Automation for Advanced Reactor Innovation initiative aimed at developing digital twin technologies to be installed in nuclear power plants.

The University of Michigan-led Project SAFARI is one of the nine programs under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s Generating Electricity Managed by Intelligent Nuclear Assets initiative, Curtiss-Wright said Thursday.

Curtiss-Wright will contribute to Project SAFARI through plant monitoring and diagnostic systems as its technologies are present in the nuclear power plants of North America and power-generating units globally. 

Lynn Bamford, president and CEO of Curtiss-Wright and a Wash100 awardee, said the company is “uniquely positioned” to help in advancing next-generation nuclear reactors and generation IV projects. 

Project SAFARI received a $5.2 million grant from the total $27 million award from the Department of Energy to create artificial technology-enhanced digital twin nuclear reactors intended to reduce operations and maintenance costs in power plants. 

Also participating in Project SAFARI are the Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and Kairos Power.