NUCLEAR & SMR — 03

New Nuclear Build Security

Large new-build nuclear projects run for years before fuel load, and for most of that time the site is a construction zone, not yet a protected area. GSS designs security architecture into the program from the start and carries it through construction.

OPERATIONAL CONTEXT

The construction phase is a threat environment of its own

A gigawatt-class new-build program is a different problem from an SMR program, not a bigger version of the same one. The unit count is often larger, the construction timeline runs years rather than months, and the workforce on site during that window can run into the thousands — most of it transient, contracted, and turning over continuously. Security architecture has to be designed at the same table as the rest of the engineering: barriers, detection, communications, cybersecurity, and the regulatory requirements each of those has to satisfy, specified into the program alongside civil, mechanical, and electrical design rather than layered on after the fact.

Construction-phase security is a distinct discipline from the operational security the site will eventually run. Vital areas exist in partially built form before they exist in final form. The protected area boundary itself can shift as construction milestones are reached. Badge population, access control, and material control all have to function under conditions no permanent system was designed for, because the permanent systems have not been commissioned yet — and won't be until well into the build.

GSS works this problem from both ends: security architecture integrated into the design package that EPC contractors build to, and a construction-phase protective strategy that covers the site for every year between groundbreaking and the point where permanent physical security systems take over. The handoff between the two is planned from the start, not improvised near the end.

METHODOLOGY
01Design-Phase IntegrationSecurity architecture specified alongside civil, mechanical, and electrical design packages.
02Regulatory & Licensing AlignmentEarly engagement with the applicable regulator on the security portion of the licensing basis.
03Construction-Phase Protective StrategyInterim measures sized to a large transient workforce and a moving protected-area boundary.
04Barrier & Detection System DesignPermanent delay, detection, and assessment systems specified for eventual commissioning.
05Systems Integration & CommissioningPhysical, cyber, and communications systems integrated and tested ahead of fuel load.
06Transition to Operational SecurityPlanned handoff from construction-phase measures to the site's permanent protective strategy.
CORE CAPABILITIES
Design-phase security architectureConstruction-phase protective strategyBarrier, detection & communications integrationCybersecurity integrated at designRegulatory licensing-basis supportEPC & multi-discipline coordination
RELEVANT ENVIRONMENTS
Large-scale new nuclear build programsMulti-unit power stationsFuel cycle & enrichment new buildUtilities adding new nuclear capacity

Build the protective strategy into the program before ground is broken

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