I am pleased to announce my first peer-reviewed publication on the subject was recently published in the International Journal of Nuclear Security. You may download the paper for free here…
Here’s the abstract of the paper…
Ready access to abundant electricity is
a key enabler of modern life. During the past decade the vulnerability of
Critical Infrastructure sectors in the U.S. to a variety of natural hazards and
man-made threats has become increasingly apparent. The electrical
infrastructure (the “Grid”) is the foundation for all other critical civil
infrastructures upon which our society depends. Therefore, protection of the
Grid is an energy security, homeland security, and national security issue of
highest importance. Geomagnetic disturbances (GMD) induced by solar coronal
mass ejections (CMEs), electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, and cyber attacks
are three events having the potential to plunge the U.S. into partial or total
Grid failure (de-energization) with subsequent blackouts so massive they are
referred to as “Black Sky Events”. Embedded in the U.S. Grid are almost one
hundred commercial nuclear power reactors in some sixty nuclear power plants
(NPPs). This paper explores the nature of society’s coupled “system of systems”
(i.e. Grid, other Critical Infrastructure, human operators of these
infrastructures, Government, and the Public) that would be stressed by a Black
Sky Event, and presents an analytical framework for probing the behavior of
this system during Black Sky Events. The question of how NPPs might be impacted
by a prolonged Black Sky Event, and what role, if any, NPPs can play in
enabling a rapid recovery from a Black Sky Event is examined. The likely
behavior of an NPP during a Black Sky Event is discussed, and it is concluded
that today’s generation of NPPs are Black Sky liabilities. However, a unique
characteristic of NPPs (the large fuel inventory maintained in the reactor)
could make the NPPs extraordinarily valuable assets should a Black Sky Event
occur. Their value in this regard depends on whether or not it might be
possible to affect a number of changes in the NPPs, the U.S. Grid, and other
Critical Infrastructure in the U.S. to enable the NPPs to become Black Start
Units – generating stations that would be the foundation of recovering the U.S.
Grid during a Black Sky Event. This paper poses the question, “Can today’s nuclear power plants be transformed from Black Sky
Liabilities to Black Sky Assets, and if so, how?” An integrated
framework for addressing this question is proposed.
The paper deals both with the current U.S. commercial nuclear power fleet, and future commercial power reactors large and small.
I hope it is a catalytic contribution to a dialog that needs to occur.
Cheers!
Sherrell
