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Securing Small Modular Reactors in Urban Environments

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2462963· OSTI ID:2462963
 [1];  [1]
  1. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Current small modular reactor (SMR) deployment use cases consider both rural and urban deployments, depending on the operational in-country needs for clean and reliable sources of energy. Many studies have been conducted analyzing security in rural and remote deployment locations, but this study looks at the physical security implications of an SMR placed in an urban environment and its uses for electricity production, district heating, and process heating. SMRs used for electricity production, district heating, and process heating may be key sources of both energy infrastructure and commercial infrastructure within a city and a State. As a result, long-term shutdowns could have a serious impact on a State’s overall energy or commercial production. Therefore, operators may consider further security applications to protect an SMR plant from physical attacks against both radiological sabotage and sabotage acts that could result in the SMR facility being offline for a significant amount of time. In this study, the team designed and analyzed a physical protection system (PPS) for securing an urban SMR facility against acts of radiological sabotage and sabotage acts that could disrupt the facility’s long-term operation. Additionally, this work analyzed the nuanced security issues related to siting an SMR near an urban environment (versus in a rural environment). The result of these analyses includes recommendations for PPSs for urban SMR facilities used for energy production, district heating, and process heating.
Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
DOE Contract Number:
NA0003525
OSTI ID:
2462963
Report Number(s):
SAND--2024-12243R
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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