Engineering topics

Culler, Megan Jordan [Idaho National Laboratory]

Publications and source records attributed to Culler, Megan Jordan [Idaho National Laboratory].

4 records

DOE OSTI2025

Hawaii Threat Brief

The Digital Energy Transformation is redefining how power systems operate, integrating physical infrastructure with digital technologies to enhance efficiency, visibility, and resilience. For islanded and digitally modernizing systems like Hawai‘i’s, this shift presents both new opportunities and evolving challenges in cybersecurity, supply chain assurance, and environmental resilience. This brief provides an overview of critical infrastructure dependencies and systemic risks associated with increasing digital integration. It summarizes recent energy-sector threat activity and case studies that illustrate adversary tactics and supply chain vulnerabilities, and identifies pathways to strengthen resilience.

25 - ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Component Criticality in BESS for Cybersecurity

Battery energy storage systems (BESS), inverters, and associated digital equipment are integral pieces of interdependent energy delivery systems. When considering the supply chain security of such systems, there is often a misplaced focus on the origin of energy generation and storage materials like battery cells, overlooking the more significant cyber risks that stem from digital power electronics control systems. Part of this misplaced focus is due to the relative costs of these components, with more attention given to expensive raw materials rather than the impactful digital elements themselves. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is addressing this gap in supply chain security through a systems-of-systems approach that considers the impact various components in digital energy systems can have should misoperation occur. Therefore, INL assigns a cyber criticality score based on quantitative analysis, which enables informed prioritization of mitigations and allows operators to reduce risk in light of the prevalence of a BESS and associated systems foreign supply chain.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2024

BESSIE: Battery & Energy Storage Supply Chain Analysis, Mitigation Deployment, and Tools

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) and their associated power electronic interfaces are key components to delivering clean and more resilient energy, providing much-needed fast-ramping, emergency discharge, generation, and operations support to the electric grid. These services have grown to be invaluable over the past ten years and will soon be an irreplaceable element of energy delivery. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) strives to address these challenges through a strategic approach to supply chain risk assessment and mitigation for BESS and related digital energy equipment through the BESSIE project under the Center for Securing Digital Energy Technology. Recognizing that decreasing dependence on a foreign supply chain will take significant time and investment, BESSIE’s focus is strategically addressing battery supply chain risks by pairing short-term steps to operate securely through today’s risks with long-term steps to shape the supply chain over the coming years.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Architecture Design for Remote Operation of Microreactors: Poster

The nuclear sector is pursuing a number of advanced reactor concepts, one of which is the microreactor, an advanced reactor characterized by a power output of less than 20 MWth. These reactors are intended for use in applications where traditional power solutions are economically or logistically impractical. One key feature required for the successful deployment of microreactors is a remote operation capability, which can dramatically cut staffing expenses by eliminating the need for licensed operators to be present at the site of each reactor and instead concentrate in a centrally located operations center. In moving to a remote operations framework for nuclear reactors, the number of potential attack surfaces for a cyber adversary looking to cause harm or disruption increases. Therefore, a robust cybersecurity architecture is required to mitigate these potential vulnerabilities. This paper explores the functional infrastructure, security, and communication requirements to adapt remote operations to nuclear applications. It then presents a reference architecture for remote operations of microreactors that applies best practices in cybersecurity and remote communications in the context of a digital twin remote operation system.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗