Combining Neural Methods and Knowledge-Based Methods in Accident Management

Accident management became a popular research issue in the early 1990s. Computerized decision support was studied from many points of view. Early fault detection and information visualization are important key issues in accident management also today. In this paper we make a brief review on this research history mostly from the last two decades including the severe accident management. The author's studies are reflected to the state of the art. The self-organizing map method is combined with other more or less traditional methods. Neural methods used together with knowledge-based methods constitute a methodological base for the presented decision support prototypes. Two application examples with modern decision support visualizations are introduced more in detail. A case example of detecting a pressure drift on the boiling water reactor by multivariate methods including innovative visualizations is studied in detail. Promising results in early fault detection are achieved. The operators are provided by added information value to be able to detect anomalies in an early stage already. We provide the plant staff with a methodological tool set, which can be combined in various ways depending on the special needs in each case.