Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are among the major growing technologies that have many beneficial applications, yet they can also pose a significant threat. Recently, several incidents occurred with UAVs violating privacy of the public and security of sensitive facilities, including several nuclear power plants in France. The threat of UAVs to the security of nuclear facilities is of great importance and is the focus of this work. This paper presents an overview of UAV technology and classification, as well as its applications and potential threats. We show several examples of recent security incidents involving UAVs in France, USA, and United Arab Emirates. Further, the potential threats to nuclear facilities and measures to prevent them are evaluated. The importance of measures for detection, delay, and response (neutralization) of UAVs at nuclear facilities are discussed. An overview of existing technologies along with their strength and weaknesses are shown. Finally, the results of a gap analysis in existing approaches and technologies is presented in the form of potential technological and procedural areas for research and development. Based on this analysis, directions for future work in the field can be devised and prioritized.
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Notes
We have chosen the term ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’ or UAVs as a catch-all phrase for remotely piloted or autonomously guided small, robotic flying vehicles. Other names, which have specific connotative and denotative meanings, include: remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), unmanned aircraft (UA), unmanned aircraft system (UAS), unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), and the more pejorative ‘drone’. Again, we use the term UAV to include this ENTIRE group of vehicles.
NOTE: Extensive analysis of military uses of drones are outside the scope of this paper.
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SAND2017-4308J: Unclassified, unlimited release. Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
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Solodov, A., Williams, A., Al Hanaei, S. et al. Analyzing the threat of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to nuclear facilities. Secur J 31, 305–324 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-017-0102-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-017-0102-5