Nuclear Reactors 729 - Use Of AI To Schedule Maintenance Outages At Ontario Power Generation - Part 3 of 3 Parts

Part 3 of 3 Parts (Please read Parts 1 and 2 first)
     The three major components of the Outage AI solution are bracketed by a data transfer process that sends candidate nuclear unit outage schedules into and out of the cloud-hosted environment directly from and to the on-premises servers and software systems at OPG. This provides a seamless integration with the existing technical stack. There is little or no interruption in the outage work schedulers’ computer aided scheduling duties.
    During the development of this Outage AI solution at OPG, the team has embedded in the solution three key elements that are considered critical to the long-term success of the project. First, the team has ensured that the solution actually improves human labor efficiency. Second, the team has incorporated in the solution the ability to be scaled up within OPG to assist in the planned maintenance of other power generating sites and assets. Third, a framework has been developed for OPG that can be expanded in the future to include scope changes and to also include the balance of resources to enhance the capabilities of the current solution.
     AI, deep learning, NLP and intelligent automation are not discrete single solutions to problems. Each of them is located on a spectrum based on the complexity of the problem under consideration and the predictive power required of the algorithm. They must be designed with the correct combination and industry expertise to provide useful results.
      Implementing these new technologies into one specific stage of the nuclear unit outage planning process enables the OPG staff to focus on more important activities instead of repetitive tasks related to creating the first version of the schedule. The Outage AI solution also facilitates improving and optimizing scheduling by rapidly processing big volumes of historical outage data that are becoming too big and time consuming for outage team members to completely analyze. This enables the reduction of human scheduling errors and oversights. It also allows better identification of missing tasks. This has the potential to reduce downtime for nuclear unit outages.
     During the Outage AI project, there have been other opportunities for applications of AI identified beyond the generation of the first schedule. The most attractive AI opportunity lies in scaling the Outage AI solution to create draft schedules that can be used for planned maintenance outages at similar sites.
      Another important potential application of AI for OPG would be improved balancing of workloads, resources and capacities. This would promote the effectiveness of processes and highlight operational efficiencies in planning outages. There may also be an opportunity to overlay AI based techniques onto the connected supply chain. This could drive performance and increase productivity by leveraging the data in a more prescriptive manner as opposed to being diagnostic or even predictive.
      This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but it does present a glimpse into potential benefits that result for the use of AI to facilitate data-driven decision making and effectively complement the work of the human teams involved in the nuclear industry.