Wireless For A Nuclear Facility

1. Wireless For A Nuclear Facility Davis J. Shull Joseph V. Cordaro Savannah River National Laboratory Washington Savannah River Company

2. Presenter Mr. Shull is an employee of the Washington Savannah River Company at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site location near Aiken, South Carolina. He has worked in the Savannah River National Laboratory for about 17 years in the Engineered Equipment and Systems Department working on custom equipment development and testing in the areas of nuclear material packaging, contaminated waste handling and repackaging, nuclear measurement instrumentation, acoustics and noise control, and most recently, wireless sensor and asset tracking applications. He is an electrical engineering graduate of Clemson University and received his Master’s in Acoustics from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Shull resides in a small rural community about 20 miles outside of Aiken with his wife and twin 3-year-old boys.

3. Outline • Background • Physical Environment • Regulatory Environment • Applications and Benefits • Sensor Network Requirements • A Current Application • Conclusions

4. Background • DOE • Office of Environmental Management (EM) – responsible for safe cleanup of legacy nuclear weapons complex facilities • National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) – manages nuclear stockpile • SRS • 310 sq. mi. area encompassing parts of Aiken, Barnwell, and Allendale counties of SC • Borders the Savannah River (SC’s southern border with GA) • SRNL • Established in 1951 as the Savannah River Laboratory • Savannah River Technology Center • 2004 designated Savannah River National Laboratory

5. Physical Environment… • Highly Reflective and Attenuating • Buildings, structures, tanks, containments • Piping, ductwork, pumps, motors, valves, fans,… • Various Sources of EMI • Motors and drives • Welding • Process controllers, computing equipment • Handheld communications radios

6. Physical Environment… • Coexistence with Legacy Equipment • Wired process instruments and equipment • Existing wireless devices • Sensitive radiological instrumentation • Area radiation monitors • Continuous airborne contamination monitors • Nuclear criticality detectors • Personnel contamination monitors • Security, communications, other process controls equipment

7. Physical Environment • Harsh Environmental Conditions • Temperature, humidity, pressure/vacuum • Corrosive • Vibration and shock • Radiation • Gamma and neutron • 106 rad gamma • Radiation Design Strategies • Rad-hardened / rad-tolerant electronics • Shielding • Remotely-located components • Anticipate limitations on component lifetimes • All of the above!

8. Regulatory Environment… • Spectrum Supportability Authorization • NTIA regulates spectrum management for federal use • Local Frequency Coordinator determines acceptability • Procurement Authorization • Risk Assessment • Determine risk to computing assets • Analyze for impact • Develop mitigation strategies • Determine residual risk

9. Regulatory Environment • Security Plan • Address limitations due to location and operation • Varies with security area and data sensitivity • Controls combine physical, technical, personnel, and administrative controls • Potentially numerous approvals • Test Plan • Checks design goals • Assesses security plan requirements

10. Applications and Benefits • Wireless Sensor Networks • Glove box and hot work cell containments • Vibration tables, shock machines, centrifuges • Preventative maintenance diagnostics • Asset Tracking • Nuclear material storage containers • Prohibited personally-owned electronics detection • Tracking of accountable digital storage media • Shop floor tracking of components and tools • Real-Time Location Systems • Personnel accountability during facility evacuations • Accountable item inventory

11. Why Wireless? • Difficulty/cost of additional wired sensors • Glove boxes, hot work cells, and cable penetrations • Limited number of spare penetrations • Cost of specialty cable, penetrations, design, installation • Open glove box modifications • Advantages of wireless sensors/technologies • Lower equipment/material costs • Lower design costs • Lower installation costs • Reduction in worker hazardous exposure (rad & non-rad) • Provides solution where wires are not feasible

12. Glove Box Wiring and Penetrations

13. Hot Work Cell

14. 800 Liter Bell Jar Inside A Glove Box

15. Other Examples • Shock Machine Inside a Sealed Room • Centrifuge with Slip Rings • Thermally Controlled Vibration Table

16. Wireless Sensor Requirements • Robustness • Immunity to multi-path interference • Spread-spectrum (DSSS, FHSS, HSS, UWB) • Self-healing mesh topology • Latency • Security • Encryption • Minimum power • Directional Antennas • Spread spectrum • Adherence to a National Standard • Cost

17. Hot Work Cell – A Current Application • Robust for Unique Environment • 4x103 rad/hr gamma field • Highly reflective RF environment • Battery-Powered • 1 year life • Secure • Low transmit power • Data encryption • Isolated network • 4 Measurement Nodes • 3 temperatures • 1 oxygen level

18. Hot Work Cell – Task Plan and Strategy • Partnered with ORNL’s Extreme Measurement Communications Center (EMC2) • SRNL gaining from ORNL’s 20+ years experience • Long-term system support by SRNL • Background RF/EMI survey • Requirements definition • System conceptual design • Lab prototype • FY08 proposal objectives • Develop performance expectations • Fabricate field prototype • Install in hot work cell

19. Hot Work Cell – Team at Work

20. Hot Work Cell – Challenges and Approach to Overcome • Harsh Radiological Environment • Choose hardware platform with rad-tolerant electronics • Add shielding to achieve desired sensor life • Approval Process Challenges • Risk Assessment, Security Plan, Test Plan • Seeking early involvement by DAA and other players • Taking advantage of Lessons Learned at other NNSA sites

21. Conclusions • NWC facilities’ challenges to wireless • Physical environment • Regulatory environment • Rich variety of applications and benefits • Strive to stay abreast of rapidly evolving technology • Additional development for unique applications

22. Questions??? THANK YOU! Davie Shull davis.shull@srnl.doe.gov (803) 725-3083