Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant
A new Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant (OFNP) concept with high potential for attractive economics and an unprecedented level of safety is presented, along with an overview of work done in the area of security. The OFNP creatively combines state-of-the-art Light Water Reactors (LWRs) with floating pl...
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| Format: | Article |
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ASME International
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117057 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7494-6662 |
| _version_ | 1811091041096302592 |
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| author | Birch, Arthur Isdanavich, Thomas Thomas, Ron Stevens, Harvey Kindfuller, Vincent J. Todreas, Neil E Buongiorno, Jacopo |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Birch, Arthur Isdanavich, Thomas Thomas, Ron Stevens, Harvey Kindfuller, Vincent J. Todreas, Neil E Buongiorno, Jacopo |
| author_sort | Birch, Arthur |
| collection | MIT |
| description | A new Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant (OFNP) concept with high potential for attractive economics and an unprecedented level of safety is presented, along with an overview of work done in the area of security. The OFNP creatively combines state-of-the-art Light Water Reactors (LWRs) with floating platforms such as those used in offshore oil/gas operations, both of which are well-established technologies which can allow implementation on a time scale consistent with combating climate change in the near future. OFNP is a plant that can be entirely built within a floating platform in a shipyard, transferred to the site. OFNP eliminates earthquakes and tsunamis as accident precursors; its ocean-based passive safety systems eliminate the loss of ultimate heat sink accident by design. The defense of an OFNP poses new security opportunities and challenges compared to land-based plants. Such a plant can be more easily defended by virtue of the clear 360 degree lines of sight and the relative ease of identifying surface threats. Conversely the offshore plant is potentially vulnerable to underwater approaches by mini-submarines and divers. We investigate security considerations of the OFNP applicable to two potential plant options, an OFNP-300 with a 300 MWe reactor, and an OFNP-1100 with an 1100 MWe reactor. Three innovative security system approaches could be combined for the offshore plant. The first is a comprehensive detection system which integrates radar, sonar and unmanned vehicles for a long distance overview of the vicinity of the plant. The second approach is the use of passive physical barriers about 100 meters from the plant, which will force a fast-moving power boat to lose speed or stop at the barrier allowing the plant security force more time to respond. The third approach takes advantage of the offshore plant siting and the monthly or biweekly rotation of crew to reduce the total on-plant and onshore security force by using the off-duty security force on the plant as a reserve force. Through the use of these approaches, the OFNP-300 should be able to achieve a similar security cost (on a per Megawatt basis) as land-based plants of similar or somewhat larger power rating. Due to non-linear scaling of cost, the security cost of the OFNP-1100 has the potential to be reduced significantly compared to its land-based equivalents. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:56:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/117057 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:56:11Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | ASME International |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1170572022-09-29T11:32:42Z Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant Birch, Arthur Isdanavich, Thomas Thomas, Ron Stevens, Harvey Kindfuller, Vincent J. Todreas, Neil E Buongiorno, Jacopo Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Kindfuller, Vincent J. Todreas, Neil E Buongiorno, Jacopo A new Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant (OFNP) concept with high potential for attractive economics and an unprecedented level of safety is presented, along with an overview of work done in the area of security. The OFNP creatively combines state-of-the-art Light Water Reactors (LWRs) with floating platforms such as those used in offshore oil/gas operations, both of which are well-established technologies which can allow implementation on a time scale consistent with combating climate change in the near future. OFNP is a plant that can be entirely built within a floating platform in a shipyard, transferred to the site. OFNP eliminates earthquakes and tsunamis as accident precursors; its ocean-based passive safety systems eliminate the loss of ultimate heat sink accident by design. The defense of an OFNP poses new security opportunities and challenges compared to land-based plants. Such a plant can be more easily defended by virtue of the clear 360 degree lines of sight and the relative ease of identifying surface threats. Conversely the offshore plant is potentially vulnerable to underwater approaches by mini-submarines and divers. We investigate security considerations of the OFNP applicable to two potential plant options, an OFNP-300 with a 300 MWe reactor, and an OFNP-1100 with an 1100 MWe reactor. Three innovative security system approaches could be combined for the offshore plant. The first is a comprehensive detection system which integrates radar, sonar and unmanned vehicles for a long distance overview of the vicinity of the plant. The second approach is the use of passive physical barriers about 100 meters from the plant, which will force a fast-moving power boat to lose speed or stop at the barrier allowing the plant security force more time to respond. The third approach takes advantage of the offshore plant siting and the monthly or biweekly rotation of crew to reduce the total on-plant and onshore security force by using the off-duty security force on the plant as a reserve force. Through the use of these approaches, the OFNP-300 should be able to achieve a similar security cost (on a per Megawatt basis) as land-based plants of similar or somewhat larger power rating. Due to non-linear scaling of cost, the security cost of the OFNP-1100 has the potential to be reduced significantly compared to its land-based equivalents. 2018-07-23T19:36:56Z 2018-07-23T19:36:56Z 2016-06 2018-07-16T16:40:39Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 978-0-7918-5005-3 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117057 Kindfuller, Vincent, Neil Todreas, Jacopo Buongiorno, Michael Golay, Arthur Birch, Thomas Isdanavich, Ron Thomas, and Harvey Stevens. “Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant.” Volume 5: Student Paper Competition (June 26, 2016), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, ASME International. © 2016 by ASME https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7494-6662 http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/ICONE24-61029 Volume 5: Student Paper Competition Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf ASME International ASME |
| spellingShingle | Birch, Arthur Isdanavich, Thomas Thomas, Ron Stevens, Harvey Kindfuller, Vincent J. Todreas, Neil E Buongiorno, Jacopo Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant |
| title | Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant |
| title_full | Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant |
| title_fullStr | Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant |
| title_full_unstemmed | Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant |
| title_short | Overview of Security Plan for Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant |
| title_sort | overview of security plan for offshore floating nuclear plant |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117057 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7494-6662 |
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