While the need for heightened cybersecurity in power plants continues to grow, so does the need for physical security. Physical attacks on power plants are uncommon, but it is always important to stay vigilant. Power plant operators, and nuclear plant operators in particular, need to constantly evolve their security strategies as new types of threats—including drones—emerge.
Nefarious Drones
Protection of power plants and other critical installations has become more of a challenge in recent years, as potential threats have intensified. There is a heightened concern about the potential for terrorism, and the simple fact that new and more sophisticated technologies, such as drones, can potentially be deployed by an adversary. In fact, French authorities reported in Newsweek that unidentified drones breached the protected airspace of thirteen nuclear reactors in 2014. The majority of these drones were smaller than 20 inches and flew just over the ground. Nobody discovered the actual intent of these activities, but there is concern that this was an effort to gain reconnaissance information that could facilitate a future attack. Additionally, there was a fear that larger drones could be used to deliver explosives or weapons to attackers.
The Sandia National Laboratories manual concerning nuclear power plant security predates drone technology but can be broadly applied to all critical power installations. Whether a conventional or nuclear plant, designing the physical protection system involves a “combination of detection, delay, and response.” Detection is the vital first line of defense. It is critical to detect and accurately assess a threat as quickly as possible to ensure response times that are “less than the time required for the adversary to complete his tasks.”
In order to accomplish this goal, a variety of technologies can and should be employed, ranging from human guards to motion sensors and cameras. However, each of these has strengths and weaknesses. People cannot be everywhere, and cameras are often ineffective in bad weather—a fact that applies to thermal cameras, as well.
An Emerging Detection Tool: Radar
One new technology is the compact radar system. Radar systems can often be effective for detecting ground-based attacks as well as drones in various weather conditions. Numerous companies offer radar surveillance systems to customers including the US military, airports, electric utilities, and other critical installations. Under the right conditions, such systems are capable of spotting drones from as far as a kilometer away. Additionally, some radar system vendors claim an ability to detect radio frequencies and notify security forces of the GPS coordinates of both the drone and its operator. Others can even access databases of all known drones to help discern what kind of drone is flying. This allows them to understand the extra weight it could fly with and have a better idea of whether it is for reconditioning or other activities.
Radar can also be linked to cameras to locate and track targets for identification. It is also technically possible to tie some defensive targeting measures to the radar, such as signal jamming, which may effectively neutralize an incoming drone. However, drone pilots can counter this by programming GPS waypoints into the flight path. In addition, the timeframe between detection and countermeasures can often be quite limited, so there may not be sufficient time to stop the drone threat. Further efforts need to be undertaken in developing additional countermeasures in this area.
Radar systems are typically located in several areas of power plants where vulnerability to threats is the highest. One area is the water. Plants should specifically focus on detecting threats to the vulnerable cooling infrastructure of nuclear power plants, since interruption of cooling water can cause serious damage to a facility, as NavTech explains. Rooftop locations help detect threats and offer both 360-degree horizontal protection and 0- to 90-degree vertical visibility. Some advocates maintain that these 360-degree radar systems can eliminate the need for many security cameras and personnel, thereby reducing overall costs while achieving the desired objective.
Radar is not perfect and has specific limitations. As such, it must be viewed as one tool in a constantly evolving toolkit. Ground clutter (objects on the ground such as trees that cause radar contamination) can sometimes make it difficult to detect low-flying drones. Radar is most effective when elevated above 60 feet to address the issue of ground-level noise.
The best approach to power plant and infrastructure security is the deployment of a holistically designed and integrated combination of various complementary technologies—an all-of-the-above approach. This may include guards, closed-circuit TV, and thermal imaging cameras. In today’s world, an integrated radar solution is also an indispensable piece of the physical security puzzle.
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