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Network Security Challenges and Countermeasures for Software-Defined Smart Grids: A Survey

The rise of grid modernization has been prompted by the escalating demand for power, the deteriorating state of infrastructure, and the growing concern regarding the reliability of electric utilities. The smart grid encompasses recent advancements in electronics, technology, telecommunications, and computer capabilities. Smart grid telecommunication frameworks provide bidirectional communication to facilitate grid operations. Software-defined networking (SDN) is a proposed approach for monitoring and regulating telecommunication networks, which allows for enhanced visibility, control, and security in smart grid systems. Nevertheless, the integration of telecommunications infrastructure exposes smart grid networks to potential cyberattacks. Unauthorized individuals may exploit unauthorized access to intercept communications, introduce fabricated data into system measurements, overwhelm communication channels with false data packets, or attack centralized controllers to disable network control. An ongoing, thorough examination of cyber attacks and protection strategies for smart grid networks is essential due to the ever-changing nature of these threats. Previous surveys on smart grid security lack modern methodologies and, to the best of our knowledge, most, if not all, focus on only one sort of attack or protection. This survey examines the most recent security techniques, simultaneous multi-pronged cyber attacks, and defense utilities in order to address the challenges of future SDN smart grid research. The objective is to identify future research requirements, describe the existing security challenges, and highlight emerging threats and their potential impact on the deployment of software-defined smart grid (SD-SG).

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Water-Weakening and Time-Dependent Deformation of Organic-Rich Chalks

Abstract The Ghareb Formation is a shallowly buried porous chalk in southern Israel that is being considered as a host rock for a geologic nuclear waste repository. Setup and operation of a repository will induce significant mechanical, hydrological and chemical perturbations in the Ghareb. Developing a secure repository requires careful characterization of the rock behavior to different loads. To characterize hydromechanical behavior of the Ghareb, several short- and long-term deformation experiments were conducted. Hydrostatic loading tests were conducted both dry and water-saturated, using different setups to measure elastic properties, time-dependent behavior, and permeability. A set of triaxial tests were conducted to measure the elastic properties and rock strength under differential loading at dry and water-saturated conditions. The hydrostatic tests showed the Ghareb began to deform inelastically around 12–15 MPa, a relatively low effective pressure. Long-term permeability measurements demonstrated that permeability declined with increasing effective pressure and was permanently reduced by ~ 1 order of magnitude after unloading pressure. Triaxial tests showed that water saturation significantly degrades the rock properties of the Ghareb, indicating water-weakening is a significant risk during repository operation. Time-dependent deformation is observed during hold periods of both the hydrostatic and triaxial tests, with deformation being primarily visco-plastic. The rate of deformation and permeability loss is strongly controlled by the effective pressure as well. Additionally, during holds of both hydrostatic and triaxial tests, it is observed that when water-saturated, radial strain surpassed axial strain when above effective pressures of 13–20 MPa. Thus, deformation anisotropy may occur in situ during operations even if the stress conditions are hydrostatic when above this pressure range.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Cognitive Grid Optimization

This project laid the foundation to include a security constrained economic dispatch (SCED) within one of the leading simulators which is used to train system operators who keep the lights on for over 150 million people in USA. The SCED is designed to handle very high penetrations of renewable generation as well as battery storage. As a follow on the this project, a Trusted Source Model of the North American Electric Interconnections will be built from public GIS data. The various North American Markets will be emulated. This Trusted Source Model will grow the software developers for the next generation of power applications that are needed to transition to all green generation while everything is electrified.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

A New Era of Nuclear Criticality Experiments: The First 10 Years of Flattop Operations at NCERC

The Flattop critical assembly was built and operated from 1958 through 2004 at the Pajarito Site (Technical Area-18), home to the Los Alamos Critical Experiments Facility. Flattop was disassembled in 2005 and refurbished over the course of 3 years. In 2008, Flattop was installed in the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) located in the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada National Security Site. Startup of Flattop with a uranium core occurred in 2011. This paper details the first 10 years of Flattop operations at NCERC (2011–present).

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Large Scale Bilevel Optimization for N-K SCOPF Using Adversarial Robustness

Ensuring a secure dispatch against multiple simultaneous outages has long been desired to maintain grid security in the presence of severe events, such as extreme weather phenomena. Traditionally denoted as N-k security constrained optimal power flow (N-k SCOPF), this problem is intractable to solve due to its size being combinatorial in the number of simultaneous outages and due to the non-convex nature of the AC network constraints. This hinders the use of N-k SCOPF for operating realistic-scale systems. In this paper, we introduce a methodology to scalably solve an AC-feasible dispatch that improves security over k simultaneous outages. Our methodology poses N-k SCOPF as a bilevel optimization problem and solves it using an adversarial robustness approach. We develop new efficient methods to solve each level of the bilevel optimization by employing knowledge of the physics of the underlying system. This yields significant improvements in speed and convergence that enable us to address the N-k SCOPF problem at scale. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method by conducting a comprehensive analysis of an N-3 SCOPF for a 500-bus network. Furthermore, we emphasize the ability of our physics-driven techniques to handle larger systems by successfully scaling up to 12,000 buses.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Pathways to IEC Standards for Heliostat Design Qualification and Site Acceptance in Central Receiver CSP Applications

This paper surveys the existing landscape of standards relevant to heliostats, identifies their gaps, and proposes a path forward to a comprehensive set of heliostat guidelines, technical specifications, and standards under the framework of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) TC 117. Gaps in existing guidelines and standards are surveyed using a three-tiered taxonomy: component-level, heliostat-level, and field-level. At each level, the gap analysis is followed by a proposal for a coordinated path forward on the development of standards. At the component level, advances in the understanding of wind loading should inform a technical specification for drives and structures. Reflectors require consolidation of measurement guidelines into existing standards documents. Communications & controls require technical standards to inform their selection and secure implementation. At the heliostat level, IEC 62817 (solar trackers) adequately characterizes drive systems, structures, and electronics, but requires adaptation to heliostats' use patterns, operating modes, and expected life cycles. IEC 62817 does not address heliostat beam quality and pointing accuracy, but the process for determining both is elaborated in the SolarPACES Guideline for Heliostat Performance Testing. This SolarPACES document requires two main modifications: adaptation to IEC language and inclusion of testing after heliostats which have undergone accelerated weathering and mechanical cycling (to understand performance degradation). At the field level, IEC 62862-4-2 addresses the function and control of heliostat fields but does not cover the statistically rigorous testing of heliostat groups, or field performance factors like security and soiling. The addition of documents under IEC-62862-4 is proposed to address this gap.

beam↗

Cybersecurity for Distance Relay Protection

This project is a DOE follow-up effort on the CREDC workshop held on September 13, 2018 in Cambridge, MA to discuss cybersecurity of distance relays, which considered the benefits, vulnerabilities and risk mitigations for the use of communication systems in power system protection. The objectives of this project are to define the taxonomy of relay protection and associated communications; define use cases describing approaches to reduce the cyber-attack surface on those protective relays; and evaluate the loss of operational functional capability from changes to communication coverage. Mitigating controls will also be evaluated to understand if there are other approaches to reduce attack surfaces while maintaining communications or partial communications. Distance relays are used to protect transmission lines of approximately 10 to 300 miles in length, by detecting short circuits (i.e., faults) on the lines and then tripping circuit breakers in the substation. Such protection systems are a subset of the power system and they incorporate sensing, logic and communication functions. Protection system exposure to cyberattack could be drastically limited by disconnecting relays from all vulnerable communication systems, but this may adversely impact overall power system performance in the absence of cyberattack. This project began with a use case analysis of protection systems with communications, as summarized in this report. It continued with modeling, testing and evaluation in a miniature power system (MPS), located in the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Electric Power Training Center (EPTC). The project also incorporated feedback from two industry meetings held in February and September 2019. The suggested next steps account for and complement the work already underway with DOE/CESER funding: 1. Study the performance of LCD and PC vs. PUTT, which is less reliant on communication system performance and GPS timing references. The PUTT scheme could prove to be more resilient to cyberattack or communications-related disruption. It could also be more tolerant of message re-routing with SDN/SDR communication systems. On the other hand, it will be more vulnerable to false tripping during dynamic events or to loss of the voltage signal. The optimum choice of scheme may depend on the specific power system and risk assessment. This study could provide a new template for evaluation based on business functions. 2. Research and develop new methods to detect and monitor distributed physical attacks, possibly using drones, video sensors, thermal sensors, machine learning and other advanced techniques. This will help mitigate the impact of cyberattack on the protection system, and will also help mitigate the impact of wild fires. 3. Implement a scalable PKI for use in electric utility protection systems. This will encourage widespread adoption of secure authentication methods that are already available, but not widely used at present. This will help secure engineering access to the relays. 4. Investigate the use of SDN in combination with SDR to achieve better cybersecurity and electromagnetic security of the network, incorporating path variability. This would help secure both engineering access and peer-to-peer GOOSE messaging. 5. Perform additional testing, with operator evaluation of “red button” scenarios, PUTT vs. LCD, relay mis-operations, and other cyberattacks in the EPTC. This is an important advantage of testing in the EPTC rather than by computer simulation or even hardware-in-the-loop simulation; the EPTC is already dedicated to managing the situational awareness, operator response times and other human impacts. One of the project objectives was to settle on a common nomenclature for this problem space. We have concluded that the OSI layer model, supplemented by ANSI device numbers and other IEEE standards, is already well-accepted by the industry. The IEEE PSRC knowledge base provides a great deal of public information

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Advanced Reactor Safeguards & Security Program: Cybersecurity Scenarios

The use of digital control systems and automation in advanced nuclear power systems introduces different types of vulnerabilities compared to legacy (i.e. analog) control systems that cyber adversaries can exploit. These vulnerabilities pose a challenge to reactor operators and cyber operations staff due to the dynamic nature of the event in which a human response or a lack of response can potentially evolve into a worsening plant condition. Using the Department of Homeland Security Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) critical infrastructure exercise framework, this document presents several cyber security scenarios typical of digital control systems that could be used in advanced reactor designs. These scenarios can be used in tabletop exercises to evaluate cyber security posture or conduct training on different aspects of cyber security, including detection, threat hunting using indicators of compromise, evaluating incident response, risk mitigation, incident reporting, information sharing and recovery.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Scalable Unit Commitment with Security Constrained AC Power Flow via ADMM and Hybrid Modeling Strategies

This research introduces a more efficient way to optimize power grid operations, breaking the problem into manageable steps and using advanced mathematical techniques to speed up calculations. By incorporating smart heuristics, improved preprocessing, and contingency analysis, the approach allows operators to make better decisions faster. These innovations enhance our understanding of how to optimize energy generation, making it possible to anticipate failures before they happen, reduce system costs, and improve overall grid performance. Ultimately, this research helps bridge the gap between theoretical models and real-world applications, paving the way for a smarter, more resilient power grid. This research directly benefits the public by making electricity more affordable, reliable, and sustainable. By improving how power grids schedule and distribute electricity, the project helps energy providers reduce operational costs, which can lead to lower electricity prices for consumers. Additionally, the ability to predict and prevent power system failures enhances grid reliability, reducing the likelihood of blackouts that can disrupt homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure such as hospitals. From an environmental perspective, optimizing power generation reduces energy waste and lowers carbon emissions, contributing to cleaner air and a more sustainable energy system. Furthermore, with extreme weather events becoming more frequent, these advancements make the power grid more resilient, ensuring communities are better prepared for emergencies and natural disasters. By strengthening the nation's energy infrastructure, this research plays a crucial role in improving economic stability, public safety, and environmental sustainability.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Potential of deep learning methods to enhance satellite-based monitoring of nuclear power plants focusing on remote operation evaluations

The anticipated expansion of the nuclear industry and the deployment of new nuclear reactors (200 + GW of new nuclear capacity by 2050) require the development of monitoring systems that align with safety and security concerns, providing enhanced evaluation capabilities. A remote monitoring system using satellites and deep learning techniques was evaluated for its ability to detect anomalies and capture various features of nuclear reactors independently of the conditions on the ground. Satellite images of current operational and under-construction nuclear power plants were collected from Google Earth Pro as a surrogate database. Subsequently, five datasets were created from the collected images. Transfer learning technique was used for several classification tasks utilizing VGG16, ResNet50V2, Xception, DenseNet121, and MobileNetV2 pre-trained models. In the first task, the capability of the monitoring system to detect abnormal conditions or processes in a nuclear power plant was investigated. In the second task, the ability to capture operational features remotely was examined. As an example, for the purposes of this study, these features included classifying reactors based on type, power range, or onsite condition. Several evaluation metrics were used to compare the performance of the pre-trained models and the overall monitoring system. Here, the evaluation results demonstrated that deep learning techniques and pre-trained models applied to satellite images have the potential to facilitate further and expand capabilities in monitoring systems to assess plant operation details.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

A Better Method to Calculate Fuel Burnup in Pebble Bed Reactors Using Machine Learning

Burnup measurement is an important step in material control and accountancy (MC&A) at nuclear reactors, and may be done by examining gamma spectra of fuel samples. Traditional approaches rely on known correlations to specific photopeaks (e.g. 137 Cs) and operate via a standard linear regression method. However, the quality of these regression methods is limited even in the best case, and is significantly poorer at short fuel cool-down times, due to the elevated radiation background by short life-time isotopes, and self-shielding effect of the fuel. For practical operation of pebble bed reactors (PBRs), quick measurements (in minutes) and short cooling times (in hours) are required from a safety and security perspective. We investigated the efficacy and performance of machine learning (ML) methods to predict the burnup of the pebble fuel from full gamma spectra (rather than specific discrete photopeaks) and found a full-spectrum ML approach to far outperform baseline regression predictions in all measurement and cooling conditions - including in operational-like measurement conditions. We also performed model and data ablation experiments to determine the relative performance impact of our ML methods' capacity to model data nonlinearities and the inherent additional information in full spectra. Applying our ML methods, we found a number of surprising results, including improved accuracy at shorter fuel cooling times (the opposite of the norm), remarkable robustness to spectrum compression (via rebinning), and competitive burnup predictions even when using background signal only (i.e. explicitly omitting known isotope photopeaks).

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

Identifying geologic characteristics and operational decisions to meet global carbon sequestration goals

Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of injecting and storing CO 2 in subsurface reservoirs and is an essential technology for global environmental security (e.g., climate change mitigation) and economic security (e.g., CO 2 tax credits). To meet energy, economic, and environmental goals, society will have to identify vast volumes of high-capacity, low-cost, and viable storage reservoirs for sequestering CO 2 . In turn, this requires understanding how major geologic characteristics (such as reservoir depth, thickness, permeability, porosity, and temperature) and design and operational decisions (such as injection well spacing) impact CO 2 injection rates, storage capacity, and economics. Although many numerical simulation tools exist, they cannot repeat the required thousands or millions of simulations to identify ideal reservoir properties and the sensitivity and interaction between geologic parameters and operational decisions. Here, we use SCO 2 T—a fast-running, reduced-order modeling framework—to explore the sensitivity of major geologic parameters and operational decisions to engineering (CO 2 injection rates, plume dimensions, and storage capacities and effectiveness) and costs. Our results show, for the first time, benefits and impacts such as allowing CO 2 plumes to overlap, how different well spacing patterns affect CO 2 sequestration, the effects on costs of including brine treatment and disposal, and the effect of restricting injection rates to 1 MtCO 2 per y based on well limitations. We reveal multiple novel and unintuitive findings including: (i) deeper reservoirs have reduced carbon sequestration costs until injection rates reach 1 MtCO 2 per y, at which point deeper reservoirs become more expensive, (ii) thicker formations allow for increased injection rates and storage capacity, but thickness barely impacts plume areas, (iii) higher geothermal gradients result in reduced sequestration costs, unless brine treatment/disposal costs are included, at which point reservoirs having lower geothermal gradients are more economical because they produce less brine for each unit of injected CO 2 , and (iv) allowing plumes to overlap has a significantly positive impact of increasing storage capacities but has only a small influence on reducing sequestration costs. Altogether, our results illustrate new scientific conclusions to help identify suitable sites to inject and store CO 2 , to help understand the complex interaction between geology and resulting costs, and to help support the pursuit of meeting global sequestration targets.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

FEST: Facility Energy Saving and Securing Technology Using Multi-Source Data: (Milestone 2 Report)

This project aims to demonstrate three technologies developed in-house at LLNL and University of Michigan-Dearborn (UMD), at a military site, including i) Grid Data Crossing (called GriD-Xing) for increasing smart meter data usability, ii) Facility Energy Optimization (called Facility E-GO) for improving facility energy efficiency in both operation and planning perspectives, and iii) Co-simulation tool (called Co-Sim) for enhancing smart meter and energy facility networks resilience and security. In this report, Millstone 2 - Integration A: Integrate GriD-Xing and facility optimization tools is documented.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Update on Nuclear Energy Projects and Plans in Ukraine (Meeting Report)

Following the 1986 disastrous accident at Chernobyl, gaining independence following the fall of the former Soviet Union, two revolutions, and on-going Russian intervention, Ukrainea is seeking to expand its use of commercial nuclear energy and to further reduce its dependence on Russia for energy. Nuclear energy in Ukraine has made a significant contribution toward achieving sustainable development and social goals. Ukraine is very vulnerable to the effects of climate change and nuclear is a cornerstone of the country’s effort to combat the effects. With broad support from the U.S. government, Ukraine is cooperating with the U.S. on fresh nuclear fuel supply, civilian nuclear security, outage optimization, spent fuel storage, and future nuclear technology. And is looking to tap U.S. expertise on plant management, and electric grid operations and expansion. NEIc hosted this virtual event to provide an update on nuclear energy projects and plans in Ukraine. Featured speakers included Yaroslav Demchenkov, Deputy Minister of Energy, Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister – Trade Representative, Petro Kotin, CEO, Energoatom,d and Ann K. Ganzer, Senior Bureau Official, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, U.S. Dept. of State. Maria Korsnick, NEI CEO, moderated the discussion. About forty individuals attended representing the Ukraine and U.S. governments, and U.S. suppliers.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Learning and Fast Adaptation for Grid Emergency Control via Deep Meta Reinforcement Learning

As power systems are undergoing a significant transformation with more uncertainties, less inertia and closer to operation limits, there is increasing risk of large outages. Thus, there is an imperative need to enhance grid emergency control to maintain system reliability and security. Towards this end, great progress has been made in developing deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based grid control solutions in recent years. However, existing DRL-based solutions have two main limitations: 1) they cannot handle well with a wide range of grid operation conditions, system parameters, and contingencies; 2) they generally lack the ability to fast adapt to new grid operation conditions, system parameters, and contingencies, limiting their applicability for real-world applications. Here, in this paper, we mitigate these limitations by developing a novel deep meta-reinforcement learning (DMRL) algorithm. The DMRL combines the meta strategy optimization together with DRL, and trains policies modulated by a latent space that can quickly adapt to new scenarios. We test the developed DMRL algorithm on the IEEE 300-bus system. We demonstrate fast adaptation of the meta-trained DRL polices with latent variables to new operating conditions and scenarios using the proposed method, which achieves superior performance compared to the state-of-the-art DRL and model predictive control (MPC) methods.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Proactive Posturing of Large Power Grid for Mitigating Hurricane Impacts

In the past decade, natural disasters such as hurricanes have challenged the operation and control of U.S. power grid more. It is crucial to develop proactive strategies to assist grid operators for better emergency response and minimized electricity service interruptions. In this paper, we propose a proactive posturing methodology of power system elements, and formulated a Security-Constrained Optimal Power Flow (SCOPF) that informed by cross-domain hurricane modeling and its potential impacts on the grid elements. Simulation results based on real-world power grid and historical hurricane event validated the applicability of the proposed optimization formulation, and show potential to enable grid operators and planners with interactive cross-domain data analytics in mitigating hurricane impacts.

power system emergency response, security constrai↗

Cyber-Physical Tabletop Exercise for Small Modular Reactor Facilities

U.S. nuclear power facilities face increasing challenges in meeting dynamic security requirements caused by evolving and expanding threats while keeping costs reasonable to make nuclear energy competitive. This evolving threat landscape includes adversaries having offensive cyber capabilities to attack information technology (IT) systems and operation technology (OT) systems. These adversaries may have the ability to attack the physical protection system (PPS) networks with potential consequential impacts that could degrade the effectiveness of the PPS. These cyber attacks may also be used to attack the safety and operational systems used to operate and ensure the safety of the reactor. Additionally, adversaries may gain access to unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that may be used to provide reconnaissance and surveillance of the facility, provide information to the adversaries, and be equipped with kinetic capabilities such as explosives or weapons that can be used to directly attack the facility. The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Reactor Safeguards and Security (ARSS) program funded Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to develop a cyber-physical tabletop exercise (TTX). This exercise was conducted on a hypothetical small modular reactor (SMR) facility, and only considered a potential adversary cyber attack on the PPS to a physical attack on the hypothetical facility to achieve a radiological release. This cyber-physical TTX is meant to provide lessons learned to integrate the cyber security system design and the physical protection system (PPS) design to decrease design, operation, and maintenance costs as well as increase effectiveness for defending against design basis threat attacks at the facility. This TTX will also provide a framework and method for SMR and microreactor vendors to conduct their own cyber-physical TTX and gain impactful insights to improving the cyber and physical protection system design for their SMR or microreactor facility design.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Machine Intelligence to Detect, Characterise, and Defend against Influence Operations in the Information Environment

Social media has enabled a new era of manipulation in the information and cognitive domains. Deceptive content—misleading, falsified, and fabricated—is routinely created and spread in the modern social media environment with the intent to create confusion and widen political and social divides, and exploit the societal conflict exacerbated by these divides in the real-world (aka physical domain). Such disinformation campaigns demonstrate a threat to the integrity of economic, political, cultural, public health, and national security institutions around the world. In this work we overview our artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to detect, describe, and defend against information operations on Twitter as an example social platform to understand the influence of misleading and falsified content diffusion and better enable those charged with defending against such manipulation to enable responsive parties to counter it. We first present novel linguistically-informed deep learning (DL) models for misinformation and disinformation detection, and present an in-depth linguistic analysis of psycho-linguistic markers across broad deception categories. We then demonstrate how our models perform in the multilingual and multimodal setting and categorize falsified and misleading content based on the intent to deceive. We also provide a large-scale analysis to describe user behavior and spread patterns while engaging with deceptive content and report novel findings about the immediate diffusion of deceptive content by characterizing the vulnerable sub-populations and their demographics, and explicitly measuring speed and scale of deception spread to uncover who shares deceptive content, how quickly, how much, and how evenly. In addition, we measure audience reactions to misinformation and disinformation at scale, distinguishing the reactions of users identified as bots versus humans. Finally, we take advantage of deep translation and generation models to create unique solutions for real-time defense against digital deception and discuss how to apply causal inference to prescribe and intervene into strategic communications jointly across information, cognitive, and physical domains.

artificial intelligence, deep learning, neural lan↗