System to control asset decommissioning and reconcile constraints

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016365162-A1
Application number	US-201514738404-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 12, 2015
Priority date	Jun 12, 2015
Publication date	Dec 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a method for generating optimal power plant decommissioning plans based on stakeholder constraints. In example embodiments, the method may include receiving one or more constraints for determining a power plant decommissioning plan. The method further includes accessing decommissioning strategy data representing a plurality of possible decommissioning plans, and generating a decommissioning plan in accordance with the constraints based on the decommissioning strategy data. The method may further include causing presentation of a user interface on a client device that includes a graphical representation of the power plant decommissioning plan.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving constraint data comprising one or more constraints for determining a power plant decommissioning plan; accessing decommissioning strategy data, the decommissioning strategy data including a decision tree, the decision tree including nodes representing activities associated with decommissioning a power plant; parsing the decommissioning strategy data to identify a plurality of paths in the decision tree, each path of the plurality of paths representing a possible power plant decommissioning plan; generating, using one or more processors, decommissioning plan data in accordance with the constraint data based on the decommissioning strategy data, the decommissioning plan data including the power plant decommissioning plan, the power plant decommissioning plan corresponding to a path selected from the plurality of paths of the decision tree; and causing presentation of a user interface on a client device, the user interface including a graphical representation of the power plant decommissioning plan.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a range of return values associated with each path in the plurality of paths of the decision tree, wherein the path selected from the plurality of paths in the decision tree is selected based on the range of return vales associated with the path.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the calculating of the range of return values associated with each path in the decision tree includes:
calculating a set of activity values, the set of activity values corresponding to costs associated with each activity in the path; calculating a set of operational values, the set of operational values corresponding to cash flows associated with operating the power plant; calculating a set of investment values, the set of investment values corresponding to investment returns associated with the power plant; and aggregating the set of activity values, the set of operational values, and the set of investment values to determine the range of return values.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising accessing a probabilistic model including a plurality of variables and a predicted range of values for each variable in the plurality of variables, wherein the plurality of variables and the predicted range of values are used in calculating the set of activity values, the set of operational values, and the set of investment values.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the calculating of the set of investment values is based on financial data obtained, via network, from a computer system corresponding to a financial institution.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of variables includes at least one of an inflation rate, an investment growth rate, an energy rate, an energy production rate, and activity cost values.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a risk value associated with each path in the plurality of paths of the decision tree, wherein the path selected from the plurality of paths in the decision tree is selected based on the risk value associated with the path.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the decommissioning plan data includes:
identifying a subset of paths from the plurality of paths that satisfy the one or more constraints; ranking each path in the subset of paths; and selecting the path from the subset of paths based on the ranking of the path.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the user interface includes a graphical representation of the decision tree, the graphical representation of the decision tree including the ranking of each path.

10 . The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the constraint data includes a threshold risk value; wherein the identifying the subset of paths includes determining the subset of paths include an associated risk value below the threshold risk value; wherein the ranking of each path in the subset of paths is based on a return associated with each path; and wherein the selecting of the path is based on the return associated with the path.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more constraints include at least one of a threshold risk value, a threshold return value, a decommissioning start date, a start date for a certain activity, a decommissioning end date, or a decommissioning time horizon.

12 . A system comprising:
a machine-readable medium to store decommissioning strategy data, the decommissioning strategy data including a decision tree, the decision tree including a plurality of nodes, each node in the plurality of nodes corresponding to an activity associated with decommissioning a power plant, each path in the decision tree representing a possible power plant decommissioning plan; an interface module to receive constraint data comprising one or more constraints for determining a power plant decommissioning plan; an optimization module, comprising one or more processors, to generate decommissioning plan data based on the decommissioning strategy data in accordance with the constraint data, the decommissioning plan data including the requested power plant decommissioning plan, the power plant decommissioning plan corresponding to a path selected from a plurality of paths of the decision tree; and the user interface module further to cause presentation of a user interface on a client device, the user interface including a graphical representation of the power plant decommissioning plan.

13 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising a simulation module to:
calculate a range of return values associated with each path in the plurality of paths of the decision tree; and calculate a risk associated with each path based on the range of return values associated with each path; wherein the path selected from the plurality of paths in the decision tree is selected based on the range of return values and the risk associated with the path.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the simulation module is to calculate the range of return values associated with each path by performing operations comprising:
calculating a set of activity values, the set of activity values corresponding to costs associated with each activity in the path; calculating a set of operational values, the set of operational values corresponding to cash flows associated with operating the power plant; calculating a set of investment values, the set of investment values corresponding to investment returns associated with the power plant; and aggregating the set of activity values, the set of operational values, and the set of investment values to determine the range of return values.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise accessing a probabilistic model including a plurality of variables and a predicted range of values for each variable in the plurality of variables, wherein the plurality of variables and the predicted range of values are used in calculating the set of activity values, the set of operational values, and the set of investment values.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of variables includes at least one of an inflation rate, an investment growth rate, an energy rate, an energy production rate, and activity cost values.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the optimization module is to generate the decommissioning plan data by performing operations comprising:
identifying a subset of paths from the plurality of paths that satisfy the one or more constraints; ranking each path in the subset of paths; an

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Johnson Christopher Donald
• Dingman Brian Nathan
• Dulgeroglu Ilkin Onur
• Brewer David Joseph
• Schneider Gregg Allen
• Mino Eric Russell

Classifications

• G06Q10/0637

  Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals · CPC title

• G21D1/003 Primary

  Nuclear facilities decommissioning arrangements (decontamination arrangements, treating radioactively contaminated material G21F9/00) · CPC title

• Y02E30/00

  Energy generation of nuclear origin · CPC title

• Y04S10/50

  Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications · CPC title

• Y02E30/30

  Nuclear fission reactors · CPC title