A Study on the Technical Standards for EMP Effect Analysis of NPPs

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a transient electromagnetic shock wave that has powerful electric and magnetic fields that can destroy electronic equipment. It is generally well-known that unintended external EMP attacks can cause the malfunction and disorder of electronic equipment and serious damages to electric power systems and communication networks. Yet, there is no standard that can be used to analyze the EMP effect for national infrastructure facilities such as nuclear power plants (NPPs). This paper provides review results of EMP environment technical standards that can be applied to analyze the EMP effect in operating nuclear power plants. In order to analyze the effects of EMPs on operating NPPs, international EMP technical standards were summarized and compared. EMP technical standards can be roughly divided into three categories; radiation, conduction, and susceptibility level. It will be possible to setup appropriate guideline for the EMP on NPPs by setting up related technical standards.