Question-Answering Method for Surveillance Tests in Nuclear Power Plants

• Published in: Journal of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan / Atomic Energy Society of Japan Vol. 31; no. 12; pp. 1383 - 1392
• Main Authors: OHGA, Yukiharu, ITO, Tetsuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Atomic Energy Society of Japan 1989
• Subjects: BWR type reactors; consultation; man-machine system; natural language; operator aids; question-answering method; reactor maintenance; reactor operation; surveillance test
• ISSN: 0004-7120; 2186-5256
• DOI: 10.3327/jaesj.31.1383

A question-answering method for plant maintenance and operation has been developed to improve man-machine communications in nuclear power plants. Applying the method, program was written and tests were performed on consultations about surveillance tests. A feature of the method in input sentence analysis is use of semantic analysis by demand identification rules and information retrieval frames. The former prepares patterns of sentences for each demand and the latter, the required information and its retrieval method. In the knowledge base lookup, the knowledge base for surveillance tests is prepared in frames and a commonsense algorithm (CSA) which represents dynamic knowledge by events and links. Question-answering tests were performed and it was found that the present method can analyze various styles of sentences, including omission of postpositions and verbs, as well as get uninputted information by referring to the dialog history etc.