PROTECTING NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS FROM VEHICLE BOMB ATTACKS

Bombs large enough (> 50 pounds of explosive weight) to require a vehicle for delivery to the detonation point pose a formidable physical threat to nuclear power plants. Three specific protection issues arise in intelligently responding to this threat; (1) protecting the public from a radiological disaster, (2) minimizing the economic loss to the operator of the plant should an attack occur, and (3) reducing the capital and operational security costs required for on-going protection against this threat. For the past year BombCAD1 \"survivability envelopes\" for critical reactor system components have been used to implement vehicle bomb contingency plans for nuclear reactors which address all three issues. This paper describes and illustrates the application of this analytic methodology and summarizes experiences related to its use in the field. The BombCAD analyses used to develop and display the survivability envelopes was developed as a joint venture of the Everett I. Brown Company (Architects and Engineers) and LORRON CORPORATION (Security Specialists). The BombCAD system employs an architectural CAD data base to generate a computer facility model, which includes such elements as a site plan, floor plans and/or elevation drawings, in sufficient detail to perform realistic vulnerability assessment. With BombCAD, facility vulnerability to a variety of potential vehicle bomb threats can be graphically displayed and the analytical estimate of the effectiveness of proposed countermeasures verified.