BuildLink: AI Decision Support for Infrastructure Operations
BuildLink is a research prototype for operators who manage complex infrastructure systems. These operators often need to follow long procedures while also thinking about alarms, equipment status, and past incidents. BuildLink brings those pieces together in one place.
The system turns written procedures and incident records into connected knowledge graphs. When an operator asks a question, the AI advisor retrieves relevant procedure steps and similar past incidents, then shows a short answer with traceable evidence. The goal is not to replace the operator, but to help them understand what information matters and why.
In the current prototype, we use a nuclear power plant Loss of Feedwater scenario as a case study because it is a safety-critical setting with clear procedures, alarms, and operator actions. The broader idea can also apply to other infrastructure domains, such as water systems, transportation systems, and industrial facilities.
This work is presented in BuildLink: Graph-Structured Procedural Representation with Incident Integration. We designed the prototype, modeled the procedure and incident knowledge graphs, and developed the GraphRAG advisor. The current incident graph uses 675 NRC Licensee Event Reports. We are now studying how this kind of support affects operators' consistency, response time, workload, and trust.