Applications of Artificial Intelligence in the U. S. Nuclear Industry

Abstract

In the United States, the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into use in the nuclear power field is being carried out by a wide spectrum of organizations (i.e., nuclear equipment vendors, architect-engineer firms, universities, national laboratories, federal agencies, the electric utility industry, and small entrepreneurial groups). The most coherent of these efforts is an Electric Power Research Institute program to demonstrate the usefulness of AI in nuclear power plants (including augmenting plant automation) and an agreement with NASA to transfer the technology of their multi-year AI “Core Technology in Systems Autonomy” to the nuclear power industry. A few vendors are offering commercial AI products that reduce the burden on reactor operators during both normal and abnormal operation. Several AI programs at universities and national laboratories have automation as their primary focus, and individual AI projects have been initiated under the Small Business Innovative Research Program. The fundamental and synergistic relationship between training and expert systems supports the use of AI in the training of nuclear personnel. In the long run, the most significant contribution of AI may well be the introduction of AI programming techniques. With multi-million line computer codes contemplated for use in automated nuclear plants, the ability to readily modify programs and to utilize verified and validated “building blocks” of code would offer extraordinary advantages.