Artificial intelligence in nuclear industry: Chimera or solution?

Abstract

Nuclear industry is in crisis and innovation is the central theme of its survival in future. Artificial intelligence has made a quantum leap in last few years. This paper comprehensively analyses recent advancement in artificial intelligence for its applications in nuclear power industry. A brief background of machine learning techniques researched and proposed in this domain is outlined. A critical assessment of various nuances of artificial intelligence for nuclear industry is provided. Lack of operational data from real power plant especially for transients and accident scenario is a major concern regarding the accuracy of intelligent systems. There is no universally agreed opinion among researchers for selecting the best artificial intelligence techniques for a specific purpose as intelligent systems developed by various researchers are based on different data set. Interlaboratory work frame or round-robin programme to develop the artificial intelligent tool for any specific purpose, based on the same data base, can be crucial in claiming the accuracy and thus the best technique. The black box nature of artificial techniques also poses a serious challenge for its implementation in nuclear industry, as it makes them prone to fooling.