Big Data Workshop draws national experts

On Sept. 8, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering hosted the Big Data for Nuclear Power Plants Workshop in Columbus, Ohio.

Organized by The Ohio State University’s nuclear engineering program, the workshop drew nuclear energy researchers from across the nation with a keen interest in big data. Defined as high-volume and velocity digital data that requires information processing for insight and decision making, big data can have a direct impact on industrial performance.

At the Big Data for Nuclear Power Plants Workshop, participants explored the potential applications and challenges of using big data in the nuclear power generation field.

The event’s keynote presenter Alper Yilmaz, professor of geodetic engineering, discussed human-cyber-physical systems (H-CPS) engineering and its impact on civil infrastructures. As a leader in computational modeling research, Yilmaz’s presentation explored the technologies that nuclear engineers can use when diagnosing and controlling H-CPS shutdowns – which are stops in service to transportation networks and electricity infrastructures.

The workshop also hosted two riveting panel discussions. The first, “Use of Big Data Analytics for Improving Operational Efficiency of Nuclear Power Plants,” included panelists Paul Tobin, of Rolls-Royce, Jim Heishman, of the Electric Power Research Institute, and Shawn St. Germain, of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The panel was moderated by Bruce Hallbert, director of nuclear-enabling technologies at the INL.

The second panel, which was moderated by Professor Carol Smidts, was titled “Challenges Associated with Implementation of Big Data Analytics in Nuclear Power Plants.” The panelists included Wayne Lee, of Duke Energy, Clinton Carter, of Luminant, and Vivek Agarwal, of the INL.

In addition to the panel discussions, the workshop’s breakout sessions allowed participants to tackle some of the most demanding challenges facing the nuclear engineering field.

Smidts and Marat Khafizov, assistant professor of nuclear engineering, and Hallbert served as the workshop’s organizing committee.