Publications

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As grid energy storage systems become more complex, it grows more difficult to design them for safe operation. This paper first reviews the properties of lithium-ion batteries that can produce hazards in grid scale systems. Then the conventional safety engineering technique Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is reviewed to identify its limitations in complex systems. To address this gap, new research is presented on the application of Systems-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) to a lithium-ion battery based grid energy storage system. STPA is anticipated to fill the gaps recognized in PRA for designing complex systems and hence be more effective or less costly to use during safety engineering. It was observed that STPA is able to capture causal scenarios for accidents not identified using PRA. Additionally, STPA enabled a more rational assessment of uncertainty (all that is not known) thereby promoting a healthy skepticism of design assumptions. We conclude that STPA may indeed be more cost effective than PRA for safety engineering in lithium-ion battery systems. However, further research is needed to determine if this approach actually reduces safety engineering costs in development, or improves industry safety standards.

Port security is an increasing concern given the significant role of ports in global commerce and today’s increasingly complex threat environment. Current approaches to port security mirror traditional models of accident causality – ‘a series of security nets’ based on component reliability and probabilistic assumptions. Traditional port security frameworks result in isolated and inconsistent improvement strategies. Recent work in engineered safety combines the ideas of hierarchy, emergence, control and communication into a new paradigm for understanding port security as an emergent complex system property. The ‘System-Theoretic Accident Model and Process (STAMP)’ is a new model of causality based on systems and control theory. The associated analysis process – System Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) – identifies specific technical or procedural security requirements designed to work in coordination with (and be traceable to) overall port objectives. This process yields port security design specifications that can mitigate (if not eliminate) port security vulnerabilities related to an emphasis on component reliability, lack of coordination between port security stakeholders or economic pressures endemic in the maritime industry. This article aims to demonstrate how STAMP’s broader view of causality and complexity can better address the dynamic and interactive behaviors of social, organizational and technical components of port security.

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The Gulf Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Institute (GNEII) was established collaboratively by Sandia National Laboratories, Texas A&M University, and the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research in 2011 to provide a regional mechanism for developing responsible nuclear energy infrastructure. By combining education and research, GNEII helps increase knowledge and expertise about nuclear energy infrastructure—including safety, safeguards, and security—among Gulf and Middle East professionals working in regional nuclear-power programs. GNEII has been recognized by the White House as a major achievement in enhanced science and technology partnerships with the developing world.

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