Unmanned aerial vehicles, known commonly as drones, have been popping up and dropping down everywhere. Drones can fly into, over and around areas that are not easily accessible—sides of cliffs, over dense forests even high above the ocean. Just search YouTube and you will find millions of videos filmed by drones. Everyone seems to have one now, and the market for them is expected to reach $100 billion by 2020.
This rapidly growing technology may have you concerned, but the good news is that U.S. nuclear power plants are extremely well-protected against aircraft, especially small drones. In fact, they are protected in multiple, sometimes overlapping and redundant ways, in an approach called “defense-in-depth.”
Soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on orders from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, plants took numerous measures to protect against a wide variety of threats, including implementing a range of mitigative strategies to address aircraft impacts. Assessments have demonstrated that nuclear power plants can withstand impacts from that of a wide-body aircraft.
Here are the four main ways our nuclear plants protect against different types of risks:
- Nuclear Plants Are Among the Most Robust Structures in America. Constructed with high-strength reinforced concrete, the shell of the containment building is four- to six-feet thick with a steel liner and incorporates an isolation system to prevent leaks to the outside atmosphere. The fuel building also has high-strength reinforced concrete floors, walls and roofs—the roofs themselves are more than 20 inches thick and supported by a steel truss system.
- Comprehensive Defense Strategies Are Thoroughly Tested. NRC evaluations, such as force-on-force exercises, assess the effectiveness of the nuclear plant’s physical security, protective strategy and emergency response. These evaluations consistently demonstrate that our nuclear sites are successful in protecting against physical threats. A mock adversary force, developed to challenge the effectiveness of the physical protection program, uses aerial views of commercial nuclear facilities for their exercise preparation and planning. Through these challenging exercises, the participants found that aerial views do not diminish the myriad defense strategies and do not pose an enhanced threat to safety.
- Even Against Drones, Nuclear Plants Are Protected from Cyberattacks. Nuclear power plants are data islands, uniquely disconnected from the internet and networks. Unlike industries for which two-way data flow is critical, nuclear plants do not require and do not allow incoming data flow. The nuclear energy industry, in coordination with the nation’s electricity sector, has been implementing and improving cybersecurity controls since 2002, and the NRC has established regulations that thoroughly monitor and inspect cybersecurity at all U.S. reactors.
- A Unified Response Is Already in Place. All U.S. nuclear energy facilities have protocols in place to respond to suspicious aircraft activity. If someone at a plant sees a suspicious aircraft, they would report the activity to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, local law enforcement and the NRC Operations Center. While we don’t see these as a significant safety threat, NEI has developed proven best practices for commercial nuclear sites on how to respond.
Drones can be novel, useful and even fun, but with robust buildings and the comprehensive, defense-in-depth strategies used by operators, America’s nuclear plants are well-protected against any possible misuse of this technology.