Internal brief: efficiency through AI, automation, and emerging technology
Unofficial support material for NRC staff and internal stakeholders. This is not an NRC issuance, not a policy, not an authorization to use a tool, and not a use of the NRC seal.
Audience. NRC staff and internal stakeholders who need one shared account of what the agency has already said in public about working more efficiently with artificial intelligence, automation, and emerging technology.
The efficiency the agency has named
The enterprisewide strategy puts efficiency inside the mission, not beside it. The vision is to responsibly leverage artificial intelligence so staff can efficiently make risk-informed decisions, drive regulatory innovation, and protect public health, safety, and the environment. [C02]
The fiscal year 2026 AI Strategic Plan, published on September 29, 2025, says technological advancements are there to support efficient, risk-informed, and reliable regulatory outcomes. Scott Flanders issued that plan as Chief Information Officer and Chief AI Officer. [C03]
The same strategy says AI tools can expedite access to insights from historical and new information, streamline workflows, and create efficiencies at an enterprise level. It also says the agency evaluates a phased approach before broader application. [C08]
AI does not replace the staff member. The public inventory says AI is not a substitute for professional judgment or legal interpretation. [C10]
Artificial intelligence that is already deployed
SimplifAI, use case NRC-0001, is deployed for text retrieval and generation. The inventory says it enhances efficiency and consistency in licensing, oversight, and other regulatory activities, helps capture institutional knowledge where staff attrition is a risk, and is expected to improve the timeliness of risk-informed and policy-informed decisions. [C11]
A September 2025 briefing describes SimplifAI as the first internal AI tool delivered in 2025, and it describes 2026 work to expand AI and data solutions for acceptance reviews, licensing, inspections, and mission support. Treat the 2026 line as a plan, not as a result already scored. [C24]
ADAMS Content Search used AI-powered cognitive search. The AI FAQ says that search significantly streamlined search processes for staff. The public version, ADAMS Public Search, launched in January 2025. [C16]
Automation
Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat, use case NRC-0002, are deployed. The inventory says they improve efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, enhancing communication, and streamlining data analysis, which frees staff for higher-value work. [C12]
On licensing work, staff are leveraging Copilot Chat to research precedents and compare documents, and the agency is piloting an internal generative AI tool on a new enrichment facility application. The public page does not attach a percentage to that pilot. Do not invent one. [C15]
The RIC 2026 session on modernizing mission work describes automated workflows, including intelligent document processing and workflow optimization, as ways to enhance productivity and reduce manual effort. Quote it as the session's description. It is not a measured savings figure. [C22]
Emerging technology, still gated
USAi, use case NRC-0003, is in pre-deployment. It is described as secure access to several advanced language models for research and analysis. It is not a deployed review tool. [C13]
Use case NRC-0004, the test of ChatGPT Enterprise and Gemini for Government, is also pre-deployment. The inventory says the test has supported drafting, summarizing, and organizing non-sensitive information, and has informed governance for any later use. [C14]
The Artificial Intelligence Compliance Plan, issued in September 2025 under OMB Memorandum M-25-21, says staff get to these tools through enterprise licenses, FedRAMP-authorized cloud environments, and NRC-approved commercial services, inside protected computing environments. [C04]
For the next 12 months, the public AI page says the agency will broaden generative AI training for staff and contractors and write rules of behavior for those tools. Use a tool only inside the authorization and the training you have. [C21]
Governance already has names. The agency set implementation goals, appointed a Chief AI Officer, and created an AI Governance Board. An AI Steering Committee coordinates offices for AI in regulated activities. [C06]
What this is not
Revised milestone schedules, aligned to the 12-month and 18-month periods cited in Executive Order 14300, took effect on May 23, 2025. Those schedule changes are process and policy reforms. They are not an AI result. [C23]
Do not tell a colleague, an applicant, or a reporter that AI produced those clocks.
What to say in the building
Deployed help is real for search, retrieval, comparison, and repetitive administrative tasks. Name the tool and say whether it is deployed or still in pilot. Keep the finding, the safety judgment, and the legal reading with the staff member. Point people who want the source to the public inventory rather than to a slide that has no citation.
Sources used in this brief
Each bracketed id is defined in `claims/claim-list.md` and `claims/claims.json`.