IEC TR 63468:2023

Nuclear facilities - Instrumentation and control, and electrical power systems - Artificial Intelligence applications

IEC TR 63468:2023 overviews the fundamentals of artificial intelligence (AI) as it could potentially be applied within nuclear facilities and identifies proven or potential applications, with the objective to foster better understanding and adoption of AI technologies within such facilities. With the objective of supporting future standard development work of IEC SC 45A in this technical area, this document takes the initiative to propose a structure for SC 45A standard series on nuclear AI applications and recommends setting up a new dedicated working group to be responsible for and coordinate standard development efforts in this particular area, taking into account its cross-cutting nature.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 10-May-2023
• ICS: 27.120.20 - Nuclear power plants. Safety
• ICS: 35.020 - Information technology (IT) in general
• Technical Committee: SC 45A - Instrumentation, control and electrical power systems of nuclear facilities
• Drafting Committee: WG 9 - TC 45/SC 45A/WG 9
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 01-Jun-2023
• Completion Date: 11-May-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC TR 63468 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-05
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
Nuclear facilities – Instrumentation and control, and electrical power systems –
Artificial Intelligence applications
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IEC TR 63468 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-05
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
Nuclear facilities – Instrumentation and control, and electrical power systems –

Artificial Intelligence applications

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 27.120.20; ICS 35.020 ISBN 978-2-8322-6901-5

– 2 – IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
INTRODUCTION . 6
1 Scope . 8
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms and definitions . 8
4 Abbreviated terms . 13
5 AI overview from a nuclear perspective . 14
5.1 Brief history of AI . 14
5.2 Major concepts of AI . 15
5.2.1 AI definition . 15
5.2.2 Levels of intelligence and autonomy . 16
5.2.3 Data processing and specifications . 18
5.2.4 Symbolic and sub-symbolic approaches . 19
5.3 Specific fields of AI applications . 27
5.3.1 Data mining . 27
5.3.2 Natural language processing . 27
5.3.3 Computer vision . 28
5.4 Challenges of AI applications in nuclear facilities . 28
5.4.1 General . 28
5.4.2 Trustworthiness . 28
5.4.3 AI verification and validation . 29
6 Some potential nuclear AI applications . 29
6.1 General . 29
6.2 Virtual sensors . 29
6.3 Intelligent control . 30
6.4 Ageing management . 30
6.5 Preventive maintenance . 30
6.6 Anomaly detection . 31
6.7 Operational decision support. 31
6.8 Cyber security . 31
6.9 Human factor engineering . 32
7 Proposed structure for SC 45A AI standards . 32
7.1 General . 32
7.2 Key criteria for structure design . 32
7.2.1 Technical coverage. 32
7.2.2 Hierarchical levels . 33
7.2.3 Entry point documents . 33
7.2.4 Reference to other standards . 33
7.3 Structure of AI standard series . 33
8 Near-term development priorities . 34
9 Organizational challenges and recommendation . 35
9.1 Cross-cutting characteristics of nuclear AI standards . 35
9.2 Organizational challenges . 36
9.3 Recommendations . 36
9.3.1 General . 36
9.3.2 Title and scope of the proposed new working group . 37

9.3.3 Liaison with external organizations . 37
Annex A (informative) AI applications beyond the SC 45A scope . 38
A.1 General . 38
A.2 Nuclear research and development . 38
A.2.1 Overview . 38
A.2.2 Material property prediction . 38
A.2.3 Thermal-fluid phenomena . 38
A.3 Nuclear reactor system design . 39
A.3.1 Overview . 39
A.3.2 Steam explosion analysis . 39
A.3.3 Thermal fatigue analysis . 39
A.3.4 DNBR prediction . 39
A.3.5 Fuel assembly design . 40
A.4 Nuclear project construction . 40
A.4.1 Overview . 40
A.4.2 Monitoring concrete quality . 40
A.4.3 Non-destructive testing . 40
A.5 Plant operation and maintenance . 41
A.5.1 Overview . 41
A.5.2 Accident identification . 41
A.5.3 Transient identification . 41
A.5.4 Fuel management . 42
A.5.5 Component inspection . 42
A.5.6 Water chemistry management. 42
A.5.7 Reactor uprate support . 42
A.5.8 Physical protection . 43
A.5.9 Probabilistic risk assessments . 43
Bibliography . 44

Figure 1 – Brief history of AI . 15
Figure 2 – Functional view of a nuclear AI system. 16
Figure 3 – Major approaches to AI . 20
Figure 4 – Machine learning pipeline (workflow) . 23
Figure 5 – Major approaches to machine learning . 24
Figure 6 – Proposed structure for SC 45A AI standards . 34

Table 1 – Example of autonomy levels for nuclear facilities (Referring to the
categorization scheme of autonomy levels from SAE) . 18
Table 2 – Working groups of IEC SC 45A. 35
Table 3 – Cross-cutting between nuclear AI applications and SC 45A working groups . 35
Table 4 – Cross-cutting between general AI topics and SC 45A working groups. 36

– 4 – IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
NUCLEAR FACILITIES – INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL, AND
ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
APPLICATIONS
FOREWORD
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