Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear

The Office of Nuclear Energy sponsors cross-cutting R&D to enable the use of advanced digital technologies in the U.S. nuclear fleet. The Nuclear Cybersecurity Research (NCR) program serves both the current nuclear fleet and designers of advanced reactors and related technologies under development. There is a wide array of industrial control systems R&D happening already, and this program has established a narrow scope to avoid duplicating those. We aim to adapt the best cybersecurity discoveries and practices from other sectors to the rigorous needs of nuclear power applications and to address any unique challenges not being addressed elsewhere, especially where these can enable innovative nuclear power use cases.

Key near-term program goals include:

Developing models and methods to prioritize cybersecurity risks in nuclear plant control systems, for more effective and economically efficient risk management;
Supporting advanced reactor designers with tools and techniques for considering cybersecurity by design;
Removing any barriers to implementing modern cybersecurity best practices in nuclear power applications; and
Investigating and addressing any cybersecurity challenges in future technologies and use cases (e.g. machine learning, automous control, wireless controls).

Nuclear Cybersecurity Webinar 2023.02.07 Purpose: Identify cybersecurity research and development needs to support future nuclear innovation. Presentations Agenda Recording

Industry Engagement

The NCR program seeks continuous engagement with nuclear industry innovators, to ensure that we are advancing the right solutions at the needed pace. In late 2022, the program is conducting a focused set of meetings to support an updated cybersecurity R&D roadmap and program plan. The goals of these efforts are to:

Understand the near-term and longer-term plans for deploying advanced digital technology in current and future nuclear plants;
Solicit the views of nuclear reactor designers, operators, digital systems suppliers and cybersecurity service providers, on how cybersecurity is being addressed and any challenges they are already aware of;
Once the needs are identified and prioritized, support industry participants with existing resources as available and identify R&D gaps that can inform the NCR program's work plans.

If you would like to participate in this process, please contact us via the information at the bottom of this page.

Program Point of Contact
National Technical Director
Lon Dawson, Sandia National Laboratories
ladawso@sandia.gov
Office: 505-844-5220
Mobile: 505-270-7308

P.O. Box 5800, MS 1136, Albuquerque, NM 87185-1136

Deputy-National Technical Director
Katya LeBlanc, Idaho National Laboratories
katya.leblanc@inl.gov
Office: 208-526-1395
Mobile: 575-650-8126
P.O. Box 1625, MS 3840, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3840

Federal Program Manager
Rebecca Onuschak
rebecca.onuschak@nuclear.energy.gov
Mobile: 301-903-0023

Recent Publications

Cybersecurity by Design