Resilient Machine Learning: Advancement, Barriers, and Opportunities in the Nuclear Industry

Abstract

The widespread adoption and success of Machine Learning (ML) technologies depend on thorough testing of the resilience and robustness to adversarial attacks. The testing should focus on both the model and the data. It is necessary to build robust and resilient systems to withstand disruptions and remain functional despite the action of adversaries, specifically in the security-sensitive Nuclear Industry (NI), where consequences can be fatal in terms of both human lives and assets. We analyse ML-based research works that have investigated adversaries and defence strategies in the NI. We then present the progress in the adoption of ML techniques, identify use cases where adversaries can threaten the ML-enabled systems, and finally identify the progress on building Resilient Machine Learning (rML) systems entirely focusing on the NI domain.