SPECIAL REPORT | AI OPPORTUNITIES EXPLORED The report says AI could aid energy planning based


on a comprehensive dataset and a trained community energy foundation model that captures characteristics of (and interactions between) physical infrastructure, human behaviour and climate or weather impacts. AI can also potentially reduce future power needs by optimising site selection requirements such as the amount of water needed to operate efficiently. Generative AI and digital engineering technologies


(digital tools and software used to design, build, and analyse engineering systems) could also dramatically reduce the time and cost before construction and reduce the probability of errors during the construction phase. The report suggests AI models could generate the


outlines, descriptions and key artifacts needed early in the nuclear power plant development lifecycle to support environmental, stakeholder and engineering document development. This output can be validated with existing tools to provide a cross-check on the physical reasonableness of an AI-generated design. A study of digital engineering and digital twinning applied to nuclear power plant design and construction found a 21% reduction in the probability of schedule delays. If 200 GW of nuclear is needed, and the report cites estimates that a “well-executed first-of-a-kind nuclear construction project is around $6,200 per kW”, reducing delays by 21%, potentially saves hundreds of billions of US energy development dollars by 2050.


Autonomous operation A modern 1100 MW gas-fired power plant has 35 employees, while a comparably sized nuclear site requires 800 people. The report says AI can substitute for human presence across a wide range of tasks in a nuclear plant, reducing this cost disadvantage.


AI will minimise the need for direct human involvement by simultaneously carrying out complex cognitive tasks involving many engineering disciplines. Further, the report says the objective should be to move toward semi-


autonomous operation and maintenance, because new advanced nuclear technologies, such as microreactors, will have to operate autonomously to realise economies of scale. Of course, any unattended operation of nuclear


reactors raises safety considerations; however, many plant-level digital twins of piping, valve, heat exchanger and cooling towers could be shared across applied energy domains.


On the positive side, operating in an unattended mode


makes it possible to coordinate and manage monitoring, control and maintenance activities for several plants from a single remote centre. In this mode, the AI performs lower-level tasks locally at the plant. Higher-level tasks are outsourced to the remote centre where the results of the lower-level tasks provide input to tasks for maintenance scheduling and supply chain management. In this autonomous regime, AI can also analyse large amounts of sensor and other plant data that may signal potential problems. Physical maintenance is carried out in response to AI’s continuous monitoring, predicting potential malfunctions and using preventive maintenance. The report highlights the looming shortage of qualified


nuclear plant operators. The experts further say that an AI model that can capture public and private information (including restricted domain) and perform all activities over the life cycle of a nuclear plant, eventually becoming a nuclear energy expert with a knowledge base that exceeds the capabilities of a human. Autonomous operation may also apply when meeting


local and national power needs, which may involve managing and coordinating a collection of nuclear and other generating assets. Where the grid interfaces with individual generating assets, AI can help schedule those assets to ensure that electricity demand at the grid level is met at least cost and highest reliability, with collective management of generation, outages and maintenance activities. This approach improves system economics by reducing the need for reserve plant capacity.


Right: Emerging AI technology can streamline and expedite the nuclear regulatory licensing and compliance process


36 | August 2024 | www.neimagazine.com


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