Field Programmable Gate Array-Based Reactor Protection Systems and Potential for Inclusion of Secure Elements to Improve Cybersecurity

Technical Report · Sun Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2024

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2480123· OSTI ID:2480123

Karch, Benjamin ^[1]; Gray, Titus ^[1]; Rowland, Michael T. ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

For acceptable implementations of technologies like wireless communications, remote monitoring, etc., strong mitigations must be developed and evaluated to ensure that new attack pathways do not increase risk for Advanced Reactors. Secure Elements can be adopted and adapted for this purpose based on tamper resistance and cryptographic abilities, but research must be done to properly integrate into critical components such as FPGA-based Important to Safety systems in conjunction with current and future regulations on cyber security features in Advanced Reactors. Typically, the integration of a Secure Element happens during the POST and UEFI boot of a computing platform, performed by the Operating System, which is not possible with FPGAs because they do not include these firmware components. Work must be done to identify a reliable and secure method for integration in FPGA-based systems which lack Operating Systems and therefore complex boot procedures, system calls, etc.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 2480123
• Report Number(s): SAND--2024-14666R
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING