The safety of nuclear power plants has always been one of the most important security issues in the industry in general. Numerous standards, techniques, and tools have been developed to deal specifically with the safety of nuclear power plants – one has specialised probes, robotized systems, electronics, and software. Although seen as a mature (or slowly evolving) industry, this notion about nuclear safety is a bit misleading – the area is developing in many promising new directions. Some recent global events will speed up this development even more. On the other hand, the industry is currently going through digital transformation, which brings networking of devices, equipment, computers, and humans. This fourth industrial revolution promises speed, reliability, and efficiencies not possible up until now. In the NDE sector, new production techniques and traditional manufacturing lines are getting to be lights-out operations (near-total automation). The same is most probably going to happen with the safety inspections and quality insurance. Robotics and automation are improving worker safety and reducing human error. The well-being of inspectors working in a hazardous environment is being taken care of. Most experts agree that the digitalization of NDE offers unprecedented opportunities to the world of inspection for infrastructure safety, inspector well-being, and even product design improvements. While the community tends to agree on the value proposition of digital transformation of NDE, it also recognizes the challenges associated with such a major shift in a well-established and regulated sector. The work presented in this paper shows a part of the project that aims to develop a modular ultrasound diagnostic NDE system (consisting of exchangeable transducers, electronics, and acquisition/analysis software algorithms), for applications in hazardous environments within nuclear power plants. The paper will show how the software part of this system can reach near-total automation by implementing various deep learning algorithms as its features and, then, testing those algorithms on laboratory samples, showing encouraging results and promises of online monitoring applications. Furthermore, future general prospects of this technology are discussed, and how this technology can affect the well-being of nuclear power plant inspectors and contribute to overall plant safety.
