Digital Twin driven Nuclear Power Plant Health Monitoring, Diagnostics and Prognostics

Nuclear Energy has the potential to significantly change the energy production landscape in the
United States, meeting the nation’s energy demands in a sustainable and environmentally responsible
manner. However, the economics associated with operating the aging nuclear power
plants (NPPs) require improvement while maintaining their high availability. The United States Department of
Energy (DoE)’s Office of Nuclear Energy has been focusing on key research and development initiatives for the
advancement of nuclear energy such as technologies and solutions
to improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the life of current reactors. This paper highlights the
research to deliver an integrated decision support system for NPPs to provide improvements in the Operations
and Maintenance (O&M) costs across the complete lifecycle of a
Light Weight Power Reactor – from design and deployment to operations and maintenance. The underlying driver
of the improved O&M costs is our hybrid approach with data-driven analysis and
model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach that utilizes a common model for all sustainment
phases. The outcome of this research is expected to be of commercial value to related
sectors and to contractors/suppliers who are involved with the development and maintenance of oil
and natural gas offshore platforms. Owing to the drive for continuous design improvement and requirements of
fault tolerance and low downtime, smart grids, building and facility controls
(Heating, Ventilation And Cooling (HVAC), etc.), and various industrial control systems (ICS) could become the
customers of developed solution suite upon incorporation of the capabilities.