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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Overview and Recommendations for Cyber Risk Assessment in Nuclear Power Plants

Digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems are being deployed in nuclear power plants (NPPs) for both existing and advanced reactor designs. As I&C systems become more digitized to allow features like near autonomous control and remote operation, they introduce greater cyber risk to NPPs. Cyberattacks targeting industrial control systems (ICSs) are growing in both qualities and capabilities, which indicates that cybersecurity needs to be an integral part of risk assessment in the industry. Although there are some risk assessment methods in traditional information technology (IT) cybersecurity, the differences between IT and ICS cybersecurity make it infeasible to apply these risk assessment methods directly to ICSs. Some research has focused on risk assessment methods for ICSs, but few studies focus on applications to NPPs. Ideal risk frameworks for the nuclear industry are dynamic and account for system dependencies; this survey review focuses on such risk assessment methods both in and outside the nuclear field. In this article, the major challenges in cybersecurity risk assessment research are pointed out, and further research suggestions and considerations for cyber risk assessment in I&C systems are identified.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advanced manufacturing and digital twin technology for nuclear energy*

Advanced manufacturing techniques and digital twin technology are rapidly transforming the nuclear industry, offering the potential to enhance productivity, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Customized parts are being produced using additive manufacturing, automation, and robotics, while digital twin technology enables the virtual modeling and optimization of complex systems. These advanced technologies can significantly improve operational efficiency, predict system behavior, and optimize maintenance schedules in the nuclear energy sector, leading to heightened safety and reduced downtime. However, the nuclear industry demands the highest levels of safety and security, as well as intricate manufacturing processes and operations. Thus, challenges such as data management and cybersecurity must be addressed to fully realize the potential of advanced manufacturing techniques and digital twin technology in the nuclear industry. This comprehensive review highlights the critical role of digital twin technology with advanced manufacturing toward nuclear energy to improve performance, minimize downtime, and heighten safety, ultimately contributing to the global energy mix by providing dependable and low-carbon electricity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Digital Engineering and Cybersecurity Decision Analysis in Early Phases of SMR-Driven IES Projects

Considerable efforts are underway to ensure cybersecurity is integrated into the systems engineering lifecycle. Cyber-informed engineering and security-by-design frameworks are intended to identify and engineer out cybersecurity risks throughout the lifecycle. While these approaches are valuable for promoting the need to include cybersecurity considerations in early design phases to create more secure systems, they may not consider the entirety of digital risks. Digital risks in a digital instrumentation and control system include adversarial and unintentional risks from internal and external factors, such as human performance errors, design flaws, environmental conditions, and equipment degradation or failure. This report provides a detailed discussion on digital risk prior to describing the background and concept of operations for a small modular reactor-driven integrated energy system connected to industrial applications. The challenges of competing objectives and competing stakeholder requirements are discussed and the impacts on digital engineering, security considerations, and interdependencies are evaluated for mission-level, facility-level, and system-level decisions.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2025

Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Zero Trust Framework: CWMD Zero Trust Principles Model

The research focuses on the critical need for enhanced cybersecurity within the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office, specifically targeting Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear devices. Traditional perimeter-based security models are insufficient against modern cyber threats, prompting a shift toward Zero Trust principles (ZTP) that emphasize continuous verification and stringent security for all devices. Federal directives mandate the adoption of Zero Trust (ZT) across agencies, supported by guidelines from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security Agency (NSA). The research involved mapping ZT guidance from these agencies to develop tailored CWMD ZTP. The study identified gaps and areas for improvement, including clear transitional guidance from traditional to ZT architectures and the focus on explicit cross cutting capabilities. Design improvements are recommended to ensure increased comprehensive protection and resilience against sophisticated cyber threats for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) devices. Collaborative efforts among federal agencies are essential for the successful deployment of an optimized ZT guidance.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2021

Towards a New Supply Chain Cybersecurity Risk Analysis Technique

Supply chain cyber-attacks, such as the SolarWinds Orion attack, are occurring with greater frequency. These attacks compromise a digital device before it is sent to customers, bypassing traditional security controls to remain persistent and undetected in operational environments. While supply chain attacks are prevalent, methods for analyzing the risk of these attacks are currently unavailable. This paper proposes new supply chain cyber-attack difficulty and risk metrics to evaluate the relative risk of an attack throughout the supply chain lifecycle. Difficulty metrics for each stakeholder in a digital device’s supply chain (e.g., hardware manufacturing, firmware development, software development, storage, and distribution entities) are calculated using scores from cybersecurity maturity questionnaires in a Bayesian Network leaky Noisy-MAX model. These difficulty metrics are then used to calculate an overall supply chain cyber-attack risk. Vulnerability and recoverability metrics are also proposed to evaluate the relative stakeholder influence in the attack risk. These proposed relative risk metrics enable continuous supply chain monitoring, provide decision-makers with information necessary for improved supplier selection, and help drive improvements in the cybersecurity posture of the stakeholders in their supply chain.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

2023 SAGE-Camp Report

The 7 th Summer Physics Camp for Young Women was successfully held in person in 2023 from June 5 th to 16 th at the New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe, NM at Hilo Intermediate School in Hawaii. This year’s camp was dedicated to the topic of Energy Security and was made possible thanks to the strong collaboration of Los Alamos, Sandia and Hawaii teams and the logistical and financial support of Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico Consortium, SAGE- Moore Foundation, LANL Foundation, ACS, IEE, APS four corners, N3B, Hawaii Museum of Science and Technology, New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA) and Tech Source. The camp mobilized more than 120 volunteers who made the camp a success. The camp is free of charge to the students and included free lunch and snacks for the busy brains to have plenty of energy, also included all materials needed for the hands-on activities (like drone building, crystal structure, solar panels, wind turbine fabrication, soldering, coding etc) and also a stipend for students who attended for the full two weeks and for two educators and two student mentors in NM. The camp offered 32 high school students from New Mexico and 8 from Hawaii a unique opportunity to explore science topics and meet a broad range of role model professionals across STEM fields including astrophysics, cybersecurity, Energy fields, space science, engineering, biophysics, environmental science, robotics, computer science, nuclear engineering, radiological science, physics and chemistry. With nearly 120 volunteers who came mainly from Los Alamos National Laboratory (66%) and Sandia national laboratories (18%), two funded educators from NM, Dr. Weldon Beauchamp and Dr. Ellee Cook, and two educators from Hilo, Dr. Pascale Creek Pinner and LeAnn Ragasa, the camp was educationally sound and extremely varied. The collaboration with school educators is critical for the goal of this camp to not only impact students' lives but also improve STEM education in NM and Hawaii. The ultimate goal of the camp is to increase higher education aspirations of students, empower them to consider careers in STEM and learn more about the opportunities available to them in our local colleges and DOE National Laboratories. In addition, the camp also hired 2 past students as student mentors, Megan Odom and Elisea Jackson, who currently attend NMSA and were students at the camp in 2022 when it was virtual. The in-person camp which aims at empowering under-represented minorities in STEM in our community received more than 52 applications this year from all over NM and 8 applications from Hawaii. Our selection criteria are based on diversity, equity and inclusion, and students for whom the camp can be a life-changing opportunity are given a chance to attend the camp. During COVID, the camp was held virtually and gave the opportunity to students from remote areas in NM and Hawaii to attend from their homes. This year, fantastic families supported students everyday even when home was in remote areas in NM like Lea county, Sandoval county, Bernalillo or Mora county. The organizers hope next year they can offer a residential option for students from remote areas.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Integrating PCTRAN with AI-Driven Host-Intrusion Detection and Secured Container Systems for Advanced Malware Analysis (Summer Internship Report)

This study presents a solution for enhancing the security of the Personal Computer Transient Analyzer (PCTRAN) PC-based Nuclear Power Plant Simulator by integrating the software with an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven host-intrusion detection system (HIDS), in addition to a secured container system, for malware analysis. PCTRAN is a Windows XP-based software package that has the ability to simulate a variety of accident and transient conditions for nuclear power plants (NPPs). It offers a high-resolution replica of the Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS) and displays the status of important parameters allowing for operator interaction. By including AI-driven HIDS for the NSSS, the framework can identify security threats in real-time, ensuring the integrity of the nuclear simulation environment. Additionally, the secured container system offers the ability to isolate and analyze malware, preventing potential threats from affecting core systems. The integration process involves extensive testing and validation in order to ensure accuracy, reliability, and compliance with security policies. This framework sets a new precedent for secure simulation and training in NPP operations, and offers insight for future advancements in cybersecurity.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advanced Reactor Control and Operations (ARCO): A University Research Facility for Developing Optimized Digital Control Rooms

The Advanced Reactor Control and Operations (ARCO) facility was constructed in January 2018 to serve as a test bed for advanced reactor control rooms and operator support systems. Since then, it has supported human-machine interface user experience research, fault detection and mitigation technology development, control room concept of operations development, and remote operations research. ARCO serves as the control room for the Compact Integral Effects Test (CIET) facility, which replicates the primary-side flow paths and thermal-hydraulic behavior of a fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) using simulant fluids and scaling principles. New reactor designs feature different operating conditions and scenarios than those in existing reactors. ARCO supports the research and development of digital tools for operator communications, intuitive real-time data analysis, online health monitoring and prognostics, and control room cybersecurity. By integrating these different technologies, ARCO acts as a prototypical control system to iteratively develop methods and tools of operation in advanced small modular nuclear reactors. This paper describes the features of and challenges to operating advanced small modular reactors underlying the design basis for ARCO and its operator support systems.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Pillars of Innovation Across Southeast Idaho & the Interstate-15 Corridor

Since 1949, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been home to developing civilian and defense nuclear reactor technologies and managing spent nuclear fuel. Today, INL is the nation’s nuclear energy research laboratory, sustaining the safe and efficient operation of existing reactors, powering science in space, and breaking ground on the future fleet of advanced nuclear reactors. INL is only one of many rising technology resources in the region, however. Along the Interstate 15 (I-15) corridor, technology and cybersecurity industries and intellectual assets are rapidly expanding. Creating an innovation hub in this region would unite capabilities to solve current and future challenges in nuclear reactor sustainment and expanded deployment, integrated fuel cycle solutions, integrated energy systems, advanced materials and manufacturing for extreme environments, and secure and resilient cyber-physical systems.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Digital risk analysis in nuclear engineering projects: Designing for safety, performance, reliability, and security

Cyber-informed engineering and security-by-design frameworks are important in promoting the need to identify cybersecurity concerns early in the systems engineering lifecycle so risks from adversarial cyber-attacks can be eliminated or reduced through engineering design practices. In addition to adversarial risk, risk in operational technology systems also includes non-adversarial and unintentional risk from other factors such as human performance errors, environmental conditions, design flaws, and device degradation or failure. This paper introduces a new concept for characterizing digital risk, both adversarial and non-adversarial, and provides the basis for initial research into a novel digital risk analysis approach focused on incorporating attack difficulty into a multi-attribute analysis technique using robust decision-making. This digital risk characterization is also used to frame a discussion on the challenges of competing objectives and competing stakeholder requirements in an integrated energy system project that incorporates a small modular reactor and industrial facility.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

FY 2021 Mid-Year HPC Utilization Report M3UF-21IN0701018

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), supported by the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) through the Nuclear Science User Facilities, provides access to supercomputer systems and data storage along with support staff for system management, software installation, cybersecurity and user support to the broader DOE-NE user community. Users include individuals at universities, industry, and government laboratories enabling a wide range of research and development and mission-supporting activities. The availability of high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities is a key foundation of collaboration and innovation in nuclear energy systems research. HPC resources and INL directly support the mission and objectives of DOE-NE. From October 2020 through March 2021, INL HPC capabilities were utilized by a diverse set of computing and applied researchers, for a wide range of research and engineering activities. This report focuses on current INL HPC systems and utilization from October 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reactor System Demonstration with Cyber-Attack Scenarios Using CrowPis and Arduino Microcontrollers

This study covers developing and simulating nuclear reactor system using CrowPis and Arduino microcontrollers for demonstrating cyber-attack scenarios. The team was tasked with implementing more sensors and cybersecurity aspects to the reactor program that was created by last year’s high school interns. The team received the opportunity to collaborate and obtain advice from multiple university interns that helped us gain a better perspective of our project. Our mentor’s background in nuclear science was pivotal to our understanding what we could add to the reactor program to make it as realistic as possible. The first week of our internship was spent reading as much material as possible to gain an understanding of and the background for cyber-attacks and nuclear science. Nuclear science was a new horizon for each of the high school interns on the team, so spending this time in the beginning of our internship was crucial to our success. For the remaining portion of our internship, the team collectively did our best to implement as many sensors and use as much hardware as we could to make an accurate representation of a nuclear reactor in the program that was created. This internship was a big learning experience for everyone on the team. We all gained so many insights into the nuclear world and how it can benefit our lives, as well as how so many moving pieces are needed for it to work properly.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hands-On, Heads-Up: Blending Cyber T&E with Data Science-Driven Training in Jupyter Notebooks

In an era of increasingly sophisticated threats to critical infrastructure, cybersecurity professionals must be more than just aware; they must be immersed, agile, and equipped to operate in environments where failure is not an option. Nowhere is this truer than in the nuclear sector, where cyber-physical systems, regulatory scrutiny, and insider threat potential demand a new generation of hands-on, technically fluent defenders. This paper presents a unified training approach that integrates Cybersecurity Test and Evaluation (T&E) with data science techniques using Jupyter Notebooks as the interactive lab environment. The program centers on a modular, scenario-driven curriculum designed to build not just knowledge but practical capability in the assessment and defense of radiation detection systems, firmware interfaces, and operational security postures.

98 - NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL↗
DOE OSTI2026

Large Load Integration - Task List and Overview

Large Load Integration Tasks: Task 1 – Workshops Support stakeholder engagement across industry to promote collaboration and identify solutions to challenges that will guide other work Task 2 – Ancillary Services Characterize different types of large loads to assess under what conditions they may be utilized to provide grid stability services Task 3 – Communications Explore the cybersecurity and communications infrastructure required to enable large loads to interface with grid operations to provide ancillary services Task 4 – Nuclear Integration Explore risks and methods for supporting large load energy needs with SMRs and incorporating them into the wider power system Task 5 – Decision Support and TA Provide support to stakeholders through the creation of planning tools and direct technical assistance.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

A data analytical approach for assessing the efficacy of Operational Technology active defenses against insider threats

In recent years, the need for Operational Technology (OT) defenses has been recognized, serving as an additional line of defense when Information Technology (IT) defenses are bypassed. This is no longer considered an uncommon possibility when dealing with advanced persistent threat (APT) actors expected to be state-sponsored and receiving insider assistance. In these extreme adversarial situations, OT defenses aim to provide another layer of defense for the system, introduced directly at the physical process level, as described by the sensors data, the system model, and control actions. Just like IT defenses, two schools of thought, i.e., passive and active defenses, have emerged to address this challenge. In active defenses, representing the focus of this paper, known signatures, synthesized based on the system's unique characteristics, are inserted into the system. In contradistinction, passive methods rely solely on observing system behavior in search of patterns of normal behavior with deviations thereof representing abnormal behavior. In their most sophisticated implementations, both passive and active defenses rely on the use of data analytics to identify the patterns and synthesize the observed and/or inserted signatures. Past research has shown that passive defenses may be bypassed by APT actors relying on data analytics and their intimate knowledge of the system to evade detection by respecting the patterns identified by the defenders. Here this manuscript explores the use of active defenses under the assumption that the attacker has privileged access to the system, including access to the system's model and sensors data. Specifically, this manuscript assesses the ability of active defenses to remain invisible to the attackers, and discusses the associated challenges that must be addressed to ensure their resiliency against APT actors.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2026

Performing Numerical Analysis of Cybersecurity Options Using Dynamic Risk Analysis Tool EMRALD

Cyberattacks can have many different attack paths, durations, and goals. There are also many different mitigation options involving hardware, software, and/or humans. Considering a cyber threat should involve defense-in-depth methods and a quantitative or numerical evaluation of overall effectiveness against dynamic, time-dependent attacks to make cost and risk-informed decisions. Typical cyberattack modeling methods only provide a qualitative evaluation. The main areas of cybersecurity are confidentiality, integrity, and availability. For companies with cyber-physical systems such as advanced nuclear reactors, cyber-related safety is a requirement set by North American Electric Reliability and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also concerned about availability or reliability as a business case. As cyber threats are evolving to a business-for-hire structure, more attacks may focus on disrupting business success and reliability, causing financial and economic stability risk. Companies want to know business reliability and recovery from those threats, and that requires modeling physical behavior of the targets. Dynamic-state-based and Markov-based modeling provides a method for better cyber scenario modeling with different tools having issues such as state-base explosion. Dynamic modeling enables time and conditional features not found in other numerical evaluation methods. EMRALD (Event Modeling Risk Assessment using Lined Diagrams) is a dynamic risk analysis modeling and simulation tool and has features that reduce modeling issues. It has been used to model different time-dependent events including plant behavior and operator procedures. As a general modeling tool, EMRALD can also be used to model cyberattack scenarios with varying mitigation options and quantify effectiveness, producing numerical data for risk-informed decisions. This paper uses EMRALD to demonstrate that dynamic numerical risk analysis can be used for cyber threat modeling to provide insights for design decision-making and optimize defense strategies. Keywords: cyber modeling; cyber-physical systems; numerical cyber modeling

97 - MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Decarbonization Considerations: Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings [Slides]

The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) is helping federal agencies understand how to meet decarbonization goals with grid interactive efficient buildings (GEB). This training will provide attendees with an introduction to GEB, how to work with utilities, and opportunities for federal sites.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

ARCADE Technical Pathway and Industry Impact

The Advanced Reactor Cyber Analysis and Development Environment (ARCADE) simplifies the evaluation and assessment of robustness factor and cyber resilience that support secure-by-design for advanced reactor nuclear power plants. In this manner, ARCADE supports risk-informed performance based (RIPB) evaluations of cybersecurity through its integration of plant physics with high-fidelity emulations of control systems. This cross domain approach enables comprehensive analysis of control system sensitivities, cyber-attack scenarios, and their consequences. ARCADE has been custom developed to meet the demands identified in Tier 1 of the Tiered Cyber Analysis (TCA) as outlined in NRC Draft Regulation Guide (RG) 5.96, which provides a RIPB cybersecurity approach for new reactors.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗