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Main Authors: Wu, Xu, Moloko, Lesego E., Bokov, Pavel M., Delipei, Gregory K., Kaizer, Joshua, Ivanov, Kostadin N.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17385
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author Wu, Xu
Moloko, Lesego E.
Bokov, Pavel M.
Delipei, Gregory K.
Kaizer, Joshua
Ivanov, Kostadin N.
author_facet Wu, Xu
Moloko, Lesego E.
Bokov, Pavel M.
Delipei, Gregory K.
Kaizer, Joshua
Ivanov, Kostadin N.
contents Machine learning (ML) has been leveraged to tackle a diverse range of tasks in almost all branches of nuclear engineering. Many of the successes in ML applications can be attributed to the recent performance breakthroughs in deep learning, the growing availability of computational power, data, and easy-to-use ML libraries. However, these empirical successes have often outpaced our formal understanding of the ML algorithms. An important but under-rated area is uncertainty quantification (UQ) of ML. ML-based models are subject to approximation uncertainty when they are used to make predictions, due to sources including but not limited to, data noise, data coverage, extrapolation, imperfect model architecture and the stochastic training process. The goal of this paper is to clearly explain and illustrate the importance of UQ of ML. We will elucidate the differences in the basic concepts of UQ of physics-based models and data-driven ML models. Various sources of uncertainties in physical modeling and data-driven modeling will be discussed, demonstrated, and compared. We will also present and demonstrate a few techniques to quantify the ML prediction uncertainties. Finally, we will discuss the need for building a verification, validation and UQ framework to establish ML credibility.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_17385
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Uncertainty Quantification for Data-Driven Machine Learning Models in Nuclear Engineering Applications: Where We Are and What Do We Need?
Wu, Xu
Moloko, Lesego E.
Bokov, Pavel M.
Delipei, Gregory K.
Kaizer, Joshua
Ivanov, Kostadin N.
Systems and Control
Machine Learning
Machine learning (ML) has been leveraged to tackle a diverse range of tasks in almost all branches of nuclear engineering. Many of the successes in ML applications can be attributed to the recent performance breakthroughs in deep learning, the growing availability of computational power, data, and easy-to-use ML libraries. However, these empirical successes have often outpaced our formal understanding of the ML algorithms. An important but under-rated area is uncertainty quantification (UQ) of ML. ML-based models are subject to approximation uncertainty when they are used to make predictions, due to sources including but not limited to, data noise, data coverage, extrapolation, imperfect model architecture and the stochastic training process. The goal of this paper is to clearly explain and illustrate the importance of UQ of ML. We will elucidate the differences in the basic concepts of UQ of physics-based models and data-driven ML models. Various sources of uncertainties in physical modeling and data-driven modeling will be discussed, demonstrated, and compared. We will also present and demonstrate a few techniques to quantify the ML prediction uncertainties. Finally, we will discuss the need for building a verification, validation and UQ framework to establish ML credibility.
title Uncertainty Quantification for Data-Driven Machine Learning Models in Nuclear Engineering Applications: Where We Are and What Do We Need?
topic Systems and Control
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17385