News Government-funded AI tool developed to help monitor and manage nuclear reactors

[Admin]

The Argonne National Laboratory has developed an AI system that can help with various aspects of nuclear reactor management.

Government-funded AI tool developed to help monitor and manage nuclear reactors : Read more

 

[Ralston18]

One very complex system being monitored and managed by another, newer, potentially more complex system is not a good concept.

A "perfect storm" of events will be catastrophic.

No matter what those events are: human error, physical terrorism, cyberattack, design, construction, materials, procedures, natural events .....

Consider: Ordering a reactor scram results in the AI ordering an axe.

Look it up.

 

[jackt]

Thats it! We are dead !

 

[jp7189]

This is a pretty perfect use case for AI. It's hard to directly observe nuclear reactions. Instead we infer what is happening by monitor conditions around the reaction. Taking tons of monitoring data and using computer inference to produce a better model of the reaction is a great use.

 

[Ralston18]

Monitoring tons of data indeed.

And nuclear reactions have been studied in theory and in practice for well over 60 years.

Consider the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). And the generations of nuclear submariness and ships that followed. Plus land based reactors.

Yes there have been and continues to be concerns all around for many reasons.

= = = =

However, when someone (human or AI) infers that those data results are some flaw in the modeling that is when things will go bad.

History has many examples. One of the earliest and most noted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_warning_of_Pearl_Harbor_attack

And there are also two space shuttle tragedies that sadly occurred because of similar circumstances and details.

AI has value and can certainly be put to good use. But requires much more forethought beforehand.

I would hazard a guess that the first thing that those implementing any use of AI did was to seek legal counsel regarding disclaimers....