FORMENTOR, a Real-Time Expert System for Risk Prevention in Complex Hazardous Environments - A Case Study

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the Formentor project and of a prototype being developed for a specific sub-system of a nuclear power plant. The various activities to be performed by such a system are presented, as well as the modular architecture that supports those activities. The concept of Safety Oriented Model is introduced by means of the Goal Tree-Success Tree (GTST) methodology. The basic components and mechanisms of GTSTs are described in detail. It is argued that the GTST methodology provides an efficient way to describe the safety related aspects of a plant with states that evolve dynamically, and supports the major activities required for building a Formentor system.