Grant: Alliance Grants

Safe and reliable operation of nuclear reactors requires the implementation of many redundant sensors that collect crucial and real-time information about the condition and status of these assets. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and microreactors will be similarly well instrumented and may be deployed in remote areas unattended by operators, which makes remote monitoring vital for successful operation. Intelligent sensor networks connecting different sensors to control rooms or remote operators via public internet or private networks can provide such requirements. Although using sensor networks provide advantages and desirable features, they can be susceptible to cyber-attacks due to their limited computational capabilities and ad-hoc operation. In addition, public trust and acceptance of nuclear power, in particular, SMRs and microreactors, can be gained by providing the public with real-time information on reactor performance and operating status data. Such access may be more critical in SMRs and microreactors because these systems may be deployed closer to urban centers or run remotely. Moreover, the advanced digital control rooms with SMR-based power plants will need to be designed with sensor data from various locations and synchronized measurements to get a real-time snapshot of the electric grid for nuclear operators. This proposal aims to address these issues by developing mechanisms to detect and predict cyber-attacks on SMR's sensor data and the connecting networks, creating a blockchain-based secure and trustworthy data-sharing architecture for public access. In addition, SMR's electrical side failure modelling is proposed to determine the overall reliability of the electric grid, the probability of brownout or blackout of the grids, and develop a grid restoration strategy when SMR is brought online again. A wide-area situational awareness system is proposed for state estimation, model validation, system well-being analysis and "what-if" type contingencies on the system, such as when SMR losses connection to the electric grid.