IEC TR 63468:2023
(Main)Nuclear facilities - Instrumentation and control, and electrical power systems - Artificial Intelligence applications
Nuclear facilities - Instrumentation and control, and electrical power systems - Artificial Intelligence applications
IEC TR 63468:2023 overviews the fundamentals of artificial intelligence (AI) as it could potentially be applied within nuclear facilities and identifies proven or potential applications, with the objective to foster better understanding and adoption of AI technologies within such facilities. With the objective of supporting future standard development work of IEC SC 45A in this technical area, this document takes the initiative to propose a structure for SC 45A standard series on nuclear AI applications and recommends setting up a new dedicated working group to be responsible for and coordinate standard development efforts in this particular area, taking into account its cross-cutting nature.
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IEC TR 63468
®
Edition 1.0 2023-05
TECHNICAL
REPORT
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Nuclear facilities – Instrumentation and control, and electrical power systems –
Artificial Intelligence applications
IEC TR 63468:2023-05(en)
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IEC TR 63468
®
Edition 1.0 2023-05
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
Nuclear facilities – Instrumentation and control, and electrical power systems –
Artificial Intelligence applications
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
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– 2 – IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
INTRODUCTION . 6
1 Scope . 8
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms and definitions . 8
4 Abbreviated terms . 13
5 AI overview from a nuclear perspective . 14
5.1 Brief history of AI . 14
5.2 Major concepts of AI . 15
5.2.1 AI definition . 15
5.2.2 Levels of intelligence and autonomy . 16
5.2.3 Data processing and specifications . 18
5.2.4 Symbolic and sub-symbolic approaches . 19
5.3 Specific fields of AI applications . 27
5.3.1 Data mining . 27
5.3.2 Natural language processing . 27
5.3.3 Computer vision . 28
5.4 Challenges of AI applications in nuclear facilities . 28
5.4.1 General . 28
5.4.2 Trustworthiness . 28
5.4.3 AI verification and validation . 29
6 Some potential nuclear AI applications . 29
6.1 General . 29
6.2 Virtual sensors . 29
6.3 Intelligent control . 30
6.4 Ageing management . 30
6.5 Preventive maintenance . 30
6.6 Anomaly detection . 31
6.7 Operational decision support. 31
6.8 Cyber security . 31
6.9 Human factor engineering . 32
7 Proposed structure for SC 45A AI standards . 32
7.1 General . 32
7.2 Key criteria for structure design . 32
7.2.1 Technical coverage. 32
7.2.2 Hierarchical levels . 33
7.2.3 Entry point documents . 33
7.2.4 Reference to other standards . 33
7.3 Structure of AI standard series . 33
8 Near-term development priorities . 34
9 Organizational challenges and recommendation . 35
9.1 Cross-cutting characteristics of nuclear AI standards . 35
9.2 Organizational challenges . 36
9.3 Recommendations . 36
9.3.1 General . 36
9.3.2 Title and scope of the proposed new working group . 37
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IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023 – 3 –
9.3.3 Liaison with external organizations . 37
Annex A (informative) AI applications beyond the SC 45A scope . 38
A.1 General . 38
A.2 Nuclear research and development . 38
A.2.1 Overview . 38
A.2.2 Material property prediction . 38
A.2.3 Thermal-fluid phenomena . 38
A.3 Nuclear reactor system design . 39
A.3.1 Overview . 39
A.3.2 Steam explosion analysis . 39
A.3.3 Thermal fatigue analysis . 39
A.3.4 DNBR prediction . 39
A.3.5 Fuel assembly design . 40
A.4 Nuclear project construction . 40
A.4.1 Overview . 40
A.4.2 Monitoring concrete quality . 40
A.4.3 Non-destructive testing . 40
A.5 Plant operation and maintenance . 41
A.5.1 Overview . 41
A.5.2 Accident identification . 41
A.5.3 Transient identification . 41
A.5.4 Fuel management . 42
A.5.5 Component inspection . 42
A.5.6 Water chemistry management. 42
A.5.7 Reactor uprate support . 42
A.5.8 Physical protection . 43
A.5.9 Probabilistic risk assessments . 43
Bibliography . 44
Figure 1 – Brief history of AI . 15
Figure 2 – Functional view of a nuclear AI system. 16
Figure 3 – Major approaches to AI . 20
Figure 4 – Machine learning pipeline (workflow) . 23
Figure 5 – Major approaches to machine learning . 24
Figure 6 – Proposed structure for SC 45A AI standards . 34
Table 1 – Example of autonomy levels for nuclear facilities (Referring to the
categorization scheme of autonomy levels from SAE) . 18
Table 2 – Working groups of IEC SC 45A. 35
Table 3 – Cross-cutting between nuclear AI applications and SC 45A working groups . 35
Table 4 – Cross-cutting between general AI topics and SC 45A working groups. 36
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INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
NUCLEAR FACILITIES – INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL, AND
ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
APPLICATIONS
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
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IEC TR 63468 has been prepared by subcommittee 45A: Instrumentation, control and electrical
power systems of nuclear facilities, of IEC technical committee 45: Nuclear instrumentation. It
is a Technical Report.
The text of this Technical Report is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
45A/1458/DTR 45A/1472/RVDTR
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this Technical Report is English.
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IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023 – 5 –
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
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The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
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• reconfirmed,
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– 6 – IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023
INTRODUCTION
a) Technical background, main issues and organization of the technical report
Artificial intelligence(AI) is transforming many fields including nuclear industry drastically. It
has been explored and deployed for many years in the nuclear industry and recent advances
in AI have enabled many more potentials. Wide adoption of AI calls for standardization
efforts to minimize the risks and optimize the efficiency in developing and deploying AI
applications. Due to its nature as an enabling technology, the topic of AI applications will
cross-cut with almost all working groups within SC 45A, which entails discussions on the
setting up of a new working group to dedicate to this new technical field.
This technical report overviews AI technologies from a nuclear perspective, and summaries
potential AI application scenarios in nuclear facilities. Based on these inputs, a three-tiered
structure for nuclear AI standards within the framework of SC 45A is proposed, and
development priorities are discussed. This document then moves on from technical
discussions to the organizational challenges in SC 45A. It analyses the cross-cutting nature
of AI applications in nuclear facilities and makes the recommendation the setting-up a new
working group, whose title and scope are also proposed. Possibility of SC 45A liaison with
other technical subcommittees is explored and recommendation is given accordingly.
b) Situation of the current technical report in the structure of the IEC SC 45A standard
series
The technical report IEC TR 63468 is a fourth level IEC SC 45A document. This document
overviews the fundamentals of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential applications in
nuclear facilities to foster better understanding and adoption of AI technologies within such
facilities. It also proposes a structure for future SC 45A standard series on nuclear AI
applications.
For more details on the structure of the SC 45A standard series, see item d) of this
introduction.
c) Recommendations and limitations regarding the application of this technical report
This document is the first of its kind within SC 45A, intended to pave the road for extensive
and systematic efforts in the standard development activities with regard to AI applications.
It helps stakeholders to understand the main benefits and challenges of AI from a nuclear
perspective. More documents are expected to follow in this direction in the coming years.
It is important to note that a technical report is entirely informative in nature, and it
establishes no requirements.
d) Description of the structure of the IEC SC 45A standard series and relationships with
other IEC documents and other bodies documents (IAEA, ISO)
The IEC SC 45A standard series comprises a hierarchy of four levels. The top-level
documents of the IEC SC 45A standard series are IEC 61513 and IEC 63046.
IEC 61513 provides general requirements for instrumentation and control (I&C) systems and
equipment that are used to perform functions important to safety in nuclear power plants
(NPPs). IEC 63046 provides general requirements for electrical power systems of NPPs; it
covers power supply systems including the supply systems of the I&C systems.
IEC 61513 and IEC 63046 are to be considered in conjunction and at the same level.
IEC 61513 and IEC 63046 structure the IEC SC 45A standard series and shape a complete
framework establishing general requirements for instrumentation, control and electrical
power systems for nuclear power plants.
IEC 61513 and IEC 63046 refer directly to other IEC SC 45A standards for general
requirements for specific topics, such as categorization of functions and classification of
systems, qualification, separation, defence against common cause failure, control room
design, electromagnetic compatibility, human factors engineering, cybersecurity, software
and hardware aspects for programmable digital systems, coordination of safety and security
requirements and management of ageing. The standards referenced directly at this second
level should be considered together with IEC 61513 and IEC 63046 as a consistent
document set.
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IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023 – 7 –
At a third level, IEC SC 45A standards not directly referenced by IEC 61513 or by IEC 63046
are standards related to specific requirements for specific equipment, technical methods, or
activities. Usually these documents, which make reference to second-level documents for
general requirements, can be used on their own.
A fourth level extending the IEC SC 45 standard series, corresponds to the Technical
Reports which are not normative.
The IEC SC 45A standards series consistently implements and details the safety and
security principles and basic aspects provided in the relevant IAEA safety standards and in
the relevant documents of the IAEA nuclear security series (NSS). In particular this includes
the IAEA requirements SSR-2/1 , establishing safety requirements related to the design of
nuclear power plants (NPPs), the IAEA safety guide SSG-30 dealing with the safety
classification of structures, systems and components in NPPs, the IAEA safety guide SSG-
39 dealing with the design of instrumentation and control systems for NPPs, the IAEA safety
guide SSG-34 dealing with the design of electrical power systems for NPPs, the IAEA safety
guide SSG-51 dealing with human factors engineering in the design of NPPs and the
implementing guide NSS42-G for computer security at nuclear facilities. The safety and
security terminology and definitions used by the SC 45A standards are consistent with those
used by the IAEA.
IEC 61513 and IEC 63046 have adopted a presentation format similar to the basic safety
publication IEC 61508 with an overall life-cycle framework and a system life-cycle
framework. Regarding nuclear safety, IEC 61513 and IEC 63046 provide the interpretation
of the general requirements of IEC 61508-1, IEC 61508-2 and IEC 61508-4, for the nuclear
application sector. In this framework, IEC 60880, IEC 62138 and IEC 62566 correspond to
IEC 61508-3 for the nuclear application sector.
IEC 61513 and IEC 63046 refer to ISO 9001 as well as to IAEA GSR part 2 and IAEA GS-
G-3.1 and IAEA GS-G-3.5 for topics related to quality assurance (QA).
At level 2, regarding nuclear security, IEC 62645 is the entry document for the IEC/SC 45A
security standards. It builds upon the valid high level principles and main concepts of the
generic security standards, in particular ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002; it adapts them
and completes them to fit the nuclear context and coordinates with the IEC 62443 series. At
level 2, IEC 60964 is the entry document for the IEC/SC 45A control rooms standards,
IEC 63351 is the entry document for the human factors engineering standards and
IEC 62342 is the entry document for the ageing management standards.
NOTE 1 It is assumed that for the design of I&C systems in NPPs that implement conventional safety functions
(e.g. to address worker safety, asset protection, chemical hazards, process energy hazards) international or
national standards would be applied.
NOTE 2 IEC TR 64000 provides a more comprehensive description of the overall structure of the IEC SC 45A
standards series and of its relationship with other standards bodies and standards.
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NUCLEAR FACILITIES – INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL, AND
ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
APPLICATIONS
1 Scope
This document overviews the fundamentals of artificial intelligence (AI) as it could potentially
be applied within nuclear facilities and identifies proven or potential applications, with the
objective to foster better understanding and adoption of AI technologies within such facilities.
With the objective of supporting future standard development work of IEC SC 45A in this
technical area, this document takes the initiative to propose a structure for SC 45A standard
series on nuclear AI applications, and recommends setting up a new dedicated working group
to be responsible for and coordinate standard development efforts in this particular area, taking
into account its cross-cutting nature.
As some technical aspects of AI are still evolving, and the regulatory framework from nuclear
regulators is not yet established, this document focuses on AI applications in nuclear facilities
that are non-safety related. However, this approach does not necessarily exclude the
applicability of AI technologies in safety applications in nuclear facilities where the technology
itself and the related regulatory framework support such potentials.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 61513, Nuclear power plants – Instrumentation and control important to safety - General
requirements for systems
IEC 63046, Nuclear power plants – Electrical power system – General requirements
IEC TR 63400, Nuclear facilities – Instrumentation, control and electrical power systems
important to safety – Structure of the IEC SC45A standards series
ISO/IEC 22989:2022, Information technology – Artificial intelligence – Artificial intelligence
concepts and terminology
ISO/IEC 23053, Framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems Using Machine Learning (ML)
ISO/IEC TR 29119-11, Software and systems engineering – Software testing – Part 11:
Guidelines on the testing of AI-based systems
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
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IEC TR 63468:2023 © IEC 2023 – 9 –
3.1
artificial intelligence
AI
research and development of mechanisms and applications of AI systems
Note 1 to entry: This definition is further expanded in Clause 5 of ISO/IEC 22989.
Note 2 to entry: For the purpose of this document, this definition can be supplemented by the definition given in
Wikipedia, where Artificial Intelligence is defined as “intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring
information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans”.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22989:2022, 3.1.3]
3.2
artificial intelligence system
AI system
engineered system that generates outputs such as content, forecasts, recommendations or
decisions for a given set of human-defined objectives
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22989:2022, 3.1.4]
3.3
autonomy
autonomous
characteristic of a system that is capable of modifying its operating domain or goal without
external intervention, control or oversight
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 22989:2
...
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