Hitachi Launches Nuclear Metaverse: Bringing Power Plants into the Virtual World

What happens when the mysterious world of nuclear power plants meets the trending metaverse? Today, tech giant Hitachi has given us the answer!

As the digital wave sweeps the globe, the metaverse and AI are no longer distant concepts—they are rapidly permeating every aspect of our lives, even transforming the most traditional and rigorous industrial sectors.

Imagine fully "moving" a massive, complex nuclear power plant into a virtual world for simulation, collaboration, and management. Sounds like sci-fi? That's exactly the future vision painted by Hitachi's newly launched "Nuclear Power Plant Metaverse Platform."

This is far more than a flashy tech demo—it's Hitachi's answer to the challenges facing future nuclear operations: from safety improvements and new plant construction to daily maintenance and eventual decommissioning. By leveraging high-precision digital twin technology to replicate nuclear facilities in the metaverse, Hitachi aims to revolutionize information sharing, progress coordination, and asset management between plants and partners. This is not just technological innovation, but a strategic move for nuclear safety, efficiency, and knowledge transfer.

Inside the "Nuclear Power Plant Metaverse": Challenges and Breakthroughs

Operating and maintaining nuclear plants is known for its rigor, high risk, and complexity. Traditionally, whether installing new equipment, making modifications, or conducting on-site surveys and maintenance, there are major hurdles:

• On-site restrictions: Strict regulations limit how often and how long personnel can enter nuclear plants, especially controlled areas during operation, making surveys extremely challenging.
• Inefficient collaboration: Information sharing and work coordination among stakeholders (utilities, contractors, etc.) is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
• Talent gap: As experienced veterans retire, new staff lack hands-on training, making knowledge transfer and productivity gains difficult.

Hitachi's "Nuclear Power Plant Metaverse Platform" was born to address these pain points. It enables precise digital understanding and seamless sharing of on-site conditions, real-time progress coordination, and reduced rework—comprehensively boosting productivity.

Five Core Technologies Powering the Future of Nuclear Plants

Hitachi's innovative platform integrates several cutting-edge technologies to create a safe, efficient virtual environment for nuclear operations:

1. Point Cloud Data & CAD Model Overlay: High-precision, high-density point cloud data is overlaid with 3D CAD models to accurately recreate nuclear plants in the metaverse, enabling precise validation and quick detection of discrepancies between blueprints and reality.
2. AI-Powered Search: Natural language processing enables full-text and synonym search of design documents, combined with location and equipment-specific data in the metaverse for highly accurate results.
3. Multi-User Collaboration: Supports simultaneous access by multiple users, breaking geographic barriers and enabling real-time communication and decision-making among stakeholders.
4. Engineering Support Tools: Offers centimeter-level measurement, virtual meetings, annotations, file attachments, equipment layout search, and asset information linking—comprehensively supporting engineering operations.
5. High Security: Encrypted interactions and strict access controls ensure secure communication and data privacy within the metaverse.

This platform is also the latest embodiment of Hitachi's "Lumada 3.0" vision, combining decades of nuclear expertise with advanced digital technologies to create data-driven value and solve challenges for customers and society.

Looking Ahead: Data-Driven Smart Nuclear Power

The launch of Hitachi's nuclear metaverse platform is not just a response to current challenges, but a bold exploration of future nuclear operations. It lays the foundation for "data-driven power plants"—collecting, integrating, and analyzing on-site equipment data to predict failures, optimize investment and maintenance, and enable truly data-driven decisions.

As this platform is adopted, the nuclear industry is poised for a profound digital transformation. Hitachi's forward-thinking approach will not only enhance nuclear safety and operational efficiency, but also contribute to the sustainable development of the global energy structure. This is a triumph of technology—and a testament to human ingenuity and innovation.

Reference:
https://en.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/100897/hitachi-develops-