G4S USA Nuclear Facility Security

Industry
Security
Challenge

In 2006 Nuclear Security Services Corporation (NSSC), now G4S USA Nuclear Facility Security, began using uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) on security equipment for the Owner Controlled Areas (OCA) at nuclear facilities. The UPS equipment was primarily used to provide backup power to OCA camera junction boxes and viewing stations which are all part of NSSC’s Advanced Video Sentry System (AVSS). NSSC assessed the need for a robust system to provide backup power to its key security components. With the release of 10CFR 73.55 NRC regulations required all security systems to have a robust design with UPS backed equipment by March 31, 2010. 

With this change OCA systems are required to have a backup power source which presented an issue to the plants as many of these locations do not have cabling infrastructure supplied to them by plant diesel systems. This solution required an outdoor standalone UPS system that would provide continuous power and meet NRC regulations. NSSC, which already began working on this solution prior to the release of the NRC regulation changes, needed to make changes to its UPS so that the new run time requirements were meet and to maintain the UPS’s small profile.

Solution

Design engineering at NSSC researched and selected TSi Power’s UPS’s to provide uninterruptable power to equipment. In 2006, the outdoor models 600B and 1200B were chosen to be installed at a nuclear facility which marked the first installation at a nuclear power plant for TSi Power. The UPS system continues to work reliably on the plant, providing continuous backup power and solving the infrastructure concerns for power backup. 

With the new requirements, run times on the UPS needed to be extended and design demanded a low profile for each UPS. TSi Power worked with NSSC to design the currently-used UPS, XUPS-1200B-0780, which included changes to the inverter and other systems to provide the same low profile design with longer run times to meet the new NRC regulations. 

This design meets the requirements for two of NSSC’s typical applications:

• CAMERA JUNCTION BOX BACKUP.  Many of NSSC’s customers have camera junctions boxes in the field, but find that installing cabling for backup power is time and cost-prohibitive. For these situations, NSSC typically installs a UPS with batteries that allow for up to an eight hour backup time.
• BACKUP POWER for VIEWING STATIONS. In this configuration the UPS is used with a battery extension cabinet to provide up to eight hours of battery backup to workstations and monitors.

Tim Collins, now Senior Security Adviser with NSSC, and his team have worked with TSi Power’s sales team since 2005, installing over 140 UPS at over twelve nuclear plants. He said, “We researched the technology out there and this was the only product that met our very stringent requirements and specifications.” 

“In multiple applications, especially in ocean-side applications, this equipment has been running great with no hiccups or hang-ups. In some cases, they’ve been running for four or five years,” added Steve Sinclair, Regional Sales Manager at G4S USA Nuclear Facility Security.