An accident diagnosis algorithm using long short-term memory

Abstract

Accident diagnosis is one of the complex tasks for nuclear power plant (NPP) operators. In abnormal or emergency situations, the diagnostic activity of the NPP states is burdensome though necessary. Numerous computer-based methods and operator support systems have been suggested to address this problem. Among them, the recurrent neural network (RNN) has performed well at analyzing time series data. This study proposes an algorithm for accident diagnosis using long short-term memory (LSTM), which is a kind of RNN, which improves the limitation for time reflection. The algorithm consists of preprocessing, the LSTM network, and postprocessing. In the LSTM-based algorithm, preprocessed input variables are calculated to output the accident diagnosis results. The outputs are also postprocessed using softmax to determine the ranking of accident diagnosis results with probabilities. This algorithm was trained using a compact nuclear simulator for several accidents: a loss of coolant accident, a steam generator tube rupture, and a main steam line break. The trained algorithm was also tested to demonstrate the feasibility of diagnosing NPP accidents. (C) 2018 Korean Nuclear Society, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC.