Ahmad Al Rashdan
Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Dr. Ahmad Al Rashdan leads the Plant Modernization efforts under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program, helping the current fleet of nuclear reactors become more economically competitive. Additionally, he oversees the sensor integration area for the DOE’s Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation Program, working on cutting-edge technologies to enable autonomous operations for advanced nuclear reactors. Dr. Al Rashdan is also the Principal Investigator for numerous high-impact efforts targeted towards enabling the use of advanced technologies for the current and future fleet of nuclear reactors.
In addition to his technical contributions, Dr. Al Rashdan holds several key professional roles. He is the founder of the American Nuclear Society’s Ad-hoc Committee on AI for Nuclear to promote responsible AI use and develops industry standards. He also serves on the Large Light Water Reactor Consensus Committee and as Chair of the Simulators I&C Systems Software and Testing Subcommittee. Furthermore, he was an elected member of the Executive Committee for Human Factors, Instrumentation, and Controls Division of the American Nuclear Society and currently serves as the treasurer for the division. Dr. Al Rashdan is a member of several industry workgroups, including the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Innovation Task Force, the Digital I&C Task Force, the Utilities Service Alliance Innovations Steering Committee, and the Nuclear Information Technology Strategic Leadership Infrastructure and Applications Committee. Internationally, he contributes to development of guidance documents through the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), focusing on instrumentation, control, and AI applications for nuclear facilities. He is senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and an active member of the American Nuclear Society.
Dr. Al Rashdan holds a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University, an M.Sc. in information technology and automation systems from Esslingen University of Applied Science in Germany, and a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology. He has over 20 years of industrial and research experience in automation, instrumentation, and control, including experience at Idaho National Laboratory, Asea Brown Boveri, Texas A&M University, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Daimler Chrysler-Mercedes Group, and Fraunhofer Institute for Production and Automation.
Dr. Al Rashdan is an active contributor to and co-organizer of several professional events and scientific conferences. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 technical reports and journal papers and nine patent awards and applications. He is an active reviewer for several nuclear energy and IEEE journals as well as many DOE grants.
Dr. Al Rashdan is the recipient of several recognition and funding awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), awarded by the U.S. president, an R&D 100 award, the INL lab director award for exceptional engineering achievement, the Texas A&M University nuclear engineering young former student award, and multiple INL Exceptional Innovation Contribution Awards for groundbreaking intellectual property.
