Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems Using an Integrated Platform for Analysis and Design

A physical protection system (PPS) is used to protect a nuclear power plant (NPP) for preventing the nuclear material and critical infrastructure from theft, robbery, illegal transfer, and sabotage. An integrated platform for analysis and design (IPAD) of PPS was proposed by the authors' previous work. By combining the functions of 3-D modeling of PPS with automatic 2-D design drawing generation, the proposed IPAD will provide the designers with comprehensive and visualized information of PPS in one platform which will enable a quick and convenient design of PPS. This paper introduces the functions of IPAD in reliability and risk analysis of PPS. A reliability analysis of a simplified PPS at NPP is presented. With the help of IPAD, it is very easy to identify the vulnerable paths. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis is conducted for identifying the key parameters to be improved for meeting the design requirements. The reliability and risk analysis results will provide a valuable feedback for the evaluation and revision of the design of PPS.