Prediction of LOCA break sizes using LSTM architecture for pressurized water reactors
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Youssef Badr
, May Abdellatief , Ahmed Nazef, Ibrahim Mohsen
, Alaa El-Gendy , Mohamed Y. M. Mohsen , Wassim I. Shalaby , Tarek F. Nagla and Mohamed A. E. Abdel-Rahman
Abstract
Neural networks (NNs) and deep learning have revolutionized several fields, and nuclear safety analysis is no exception. The proper operation of nuclear reactor safety systems is crucial and is designed to meet strict safety requirements. Such systems are expected to withstand certain postulated accidents known as design basis accidents (DBAs), which include the loss of coolant accident (LOCA). As the LOCA involves complex fluid mechanics and heat transfer, the pattern recognition abilities of NNs allow for excellent prediction capabilities and the bypassing of otherwise tedious conventional analysis methods. This work investigates the deep learning techniques through long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture, for its ability to deal with time-series problems which include LOCAs. The utilized model is taught to estimate the size of pipe breaks within the cooling system based off of the corresponding pressure drops. A range of 0.5 %–100 % break-size-time-variant parameters were collected using the WSC Inc. 1,400 MWe generic pressurized water reactor (GPWR) simulator, using two circulation loops. Neural networks were trained on parameters such as loop temperature, pressure, containment pressure and Boron concentration. The performance of the LSTM model showed a mean absolute error (MAE) of 5.185, mean squared error (MSE) of 76.50, root mean squared error (RMSE) of 7.953, R2 of 0.888 and Accuracy of 80.684 % within a tolerance of 15 % across 100 runs.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
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© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Serpent 2 simulations of the historic Haigerloch B8 nuclear reactor of 1945
- Safety behaviour of a material testing reactor using U3Si2 fuel during reactivity insertion accident
- Augmentation of the neutronic safety aspect of high-density fuel research reactor using new control element design
- Analysis of neutronic performance of VVER 1200 reactor using accident tolerant fuel
- Reliability assessment of equal height difference passive containment cooling system based on the adaptive metamodel-based subset importance sampling method in inverse uncertainty quantification framework
- Numerical investigation of three-tube intertwined HX design
- Prediction of LOCA break sizes using LSTM architecture for pressurized water reactors
- Decoupling and controller design of multivariable systems for small modular reactors
- Adsorption behavior of Se(Ⅳ) and Se(Ⅵ) on sodium bentonite
- Calendar of events
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Serpent 2 simulations of the historic Haigerloch B8 nuclear reactor of 1945
- Safety behaviour of a material testing reactor using U3Si2 fuel during reactivity insertion accident
- Augmentation of the neutronic safety aspect of high-density fuel research reactor using new control element design
- Analysis of neutronic performance of VVER 1200 reactor using accident tolerant fuel
- Reliability assessment of equal height difference passive containment cooling system based on the adaptive metamodel-based subset importance sampling method in inverse uncertainty quantification framework
- Numerical investigation of three-tube intertwined HX design
- Prediction of LOCA break sizes using LSTM architecture for pressurized water reactors
- Decoupling and controller design of multivariable systems for small modular reactors
- Adsorption behavior of Se(Ⅳ) and Se(Ⅵ) on sodium bentonite
- Calendar of events