Addressing The Insider Threat With Resilience And Fortitude

Addressing the Insider Threat with Resilience and FortitudeKaren Pillay, EskomKaren Kaldenbach: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)AbstractThe year 2020 caused many challenges for the nuclear industry, as well as many other industries. As many staff shifted to new ways of working in a remote environment or at least with limited personal interaction between staff, it became a challenge to not only maintain security and safety protocols but also to provide due diligence for trustworthiness and reliability programs. This year is a reminder that part of ensuring the safety and security of facilities and staff includes resilience in insider threat mitigation efforts, protecting against those who may intentionally or unintentionally interject failure points into nuclear facilities.In 2020, the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, operated by Eskom near Cape Town, South Africa, sought opportunities during these times of difficulties to maintain optimal productivity. Eskom actually took advantage of reduced power needs resulting from many closed businesses to expedite its maintenance schedule. This required great rigor to enhance maintenance while supporting necessary pandemic protocols and maintaining required security and safety measures. This paper will address the processes Eskom used to ensure insider threats were not introduced to the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station during the increased maintenance activities, as well as discuss lessons learned to improve resilience in the fitness-for-duty program and overall insider threat mitigation program at Eskom.