Security and the Offshore Nuclear Plant (ONP) : security simulation testing and analysis of the multi-layer security system

Abstract

The ONP research team from the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at MIT has been researching and developing the possibility of a nuclear reactor deployed on an offshore platform out to sea. Such a reactor deployed up to twelve nautical miles offshore poses a significant security risk that needs to be addressed. Through the studies of MIT graduate Vince Kindfuller, a security plan was proposed in the ICONE24-61029 paper of 2016. This research aims to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed security plan for the ONP-300 and ONP-1100 through the use of a simulation software developed by ARES Corporation, to expand on the security plan to include a response to nonviolent adversaries, and to alter the security plan and plant design as necessary to increase the effectiveness of the security configuration while limiting expenses.

Initially, different attack scenarios were investigated and four design-basis threats (DBT) were formulated based on knowledge from industry professionals. Through the use of ARES software, results indicated that the initial platform design for the ONP 300 led to major line-of-sight issues for security officers on the top deck of the plant causing performance below the minimum acceptable level. This realization led to changes in the ONP 300's security configuration and structural layout. Upon development of a platform layout that maximized security performance, a sensitivity analysis was conducted on the following aspects of the security plan: size of the adversary force, size of the guard force, and use of a hostile insider attack. The results of sensitivity analysis proved sufficient to lower the anticipated number of guard positions from 10 to 5 with 5.2 security officers per position to maintain watch at all times. This corresponds to a significant reduction in operational costs.

Sensitivity analysis also indicated that functioning radar is the key to success for security. This analysis concluded with blast analysis to determine the location of the physical barrier which should be placed about 250 m from the ONP and an overview of ONP-1100 security performance with five guard positions. The major contribution of this work is therefore two-fold: First, implementation of security-enhancing features have been accomplished at the very early stage of the ONP design when innovative features can be best identified and implemented in a cost-effective manner. Second, application of a Monte Carlo numerical tool has allowed confirmation of the effectiveness of the design to defeat a wide range of intruder scenarios under a variation of different situations proving the robustness of the security design.