GENERATION III COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR REACTOR CYBERSECLRITY

摘要

New build commercial nuclear power plants worldwide have evolved from Generation Ⅱ (Gen Ⅱ) designs to Generation Ⅲ (Gen Ⅲ). Gen Ⅲ reactor architectures are predominately digital, increasing the industrial cybersecurity threat landscape when compared with Gen Ⅱ designs. Nuclear plant cyber and physical security organizations are tasked with protecting nuclear power plants against any action, intentional or accidental, that could lead to radiological release. Regulatory requirements for cybersecurity protection of digital communications and computer equipment associated with safety, security, emergency preparedness, and support systems critical to plant operations and safe reactor shutdown are included in applications for operating licenses in different countries. Cybersecurity for Gen Ⅲ reactors entails the same methodologies used for Gen Ⅱ reactors. The divergence between Gen Ⅱ and Gen Ⅲ cybersecurity is the number of digital assets requiring protection. Gen Ⅲ units may have as many as double or triple the number of digital assets that Gen II reactors have. Additionally, instrumentation and control (I&C) configuration changes and significant modifications to control room architecture for Gen Ⅱ models require detailed assessments to determine appropriate cybersecurity controls for protecting digital assets while not interfering with operations. Critical infrastructure malicious cyber actors have demonstrated their objectives of disrupting physical processes in Operational Technology (OT) environments through successful compromises such as power grid attacks, penetration and destruction of centrifuges in nuclear enrichment facilities, and other cyber-attacks. Therefore, cybersecurity defense of OT environments in Gen Ⅲ nuclear power plants is essential in order to protect the public and the environment from potential radiological release that could result from a damaging cyber-attack.