Homeland Security & Risk Assessment

OMICRON has provided security threat and vulnerability, consequence, and risk assessments (including control identification—preventive and mitigative), as well as assessments of effectiveness of controls for our customers since 1998. Some of our staff members have been providing this type of support for over 25 years.

Our staff have considerable experience in security and risk assessments for both the nuclear power industry and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear and nonnuclear facilities. We have staff members who not only are experienced in performing security and risk assessments but have the clearance necessary to support homeland security and risk assessment efforts both in the U.S. and abroad. The following paragraphs describe staff experience and expertise in specific key areas relevant to homeland security:

• Threat/Vulnerability Assessments: OMICRON's engineering staff have supported security threat/vulnerability assessments, including the development and installation of Remotely Operated Weapon Systems (ROWS) for physical security applications, insider threat and sabotage evaluations, and safety analysis and documentation with emphasis on security technology deployment and testing for both nuclear and nonnuclear facilities. These evaluations include the use of risk analysis techniques (e.g., fault and event tree, failure modes and effects analyses [FMEAs], risk-ranking matrices, decision analysis, and fuzzy logic) to identify and assess potential targets of interests, possible threat scenarios and controls to prevent such threats, and the likelihood of these scenarios occurring.
• Explosive Modeling: Our staff have significant experience in assessing the potential consequences of explosive threats. This experience includes evaluating potential source terms, damage potential, and consequences to the public and workers from malevolent acts that result in radiological or toxicological releases and/or thermal or energetic events. We have extensive experience in computer code modeling/simulation analyses in the areas of explosive technology, shockwave physics, and explosive shaped-charge components.
  
  OMICRON has extensive experience in evaluating events such as fires, spills, criticality events, and dispersion events involving radiological and toxicological releases.
• Risk Analysis: OMICRON's engineering staff have considerable experience with risk analysis activities, including those associated with reliability assessments, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, and risk/cost-benefit evaluations.
• System Effectiveness Evaluations: OMICRON has supported numerous evaluations of the effectiveness and adequacy of safety and security structures, systems, and components (SSCs) in preventing or mitigating malevolent acts or accidents involving both nuclear and nonnuclear facilities and operations. Examples of evaluations of SSCs include examining their responses to fire and explosion events and assessing their reliability and vulnerability with respect to sabotage or disabling activities.