Work

Cybersecurity risk assessment of nuclear SVDU based on attack tree

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The nuclear power SVDU in nuclear power plants is an important component of the nuclear reactor protection system. With the complete digitalization of the reactor protection system, the risks of cybersecurity attacks have significantly increased. This paper proposes a safety risk assessment method based on an attack tree model to analyze the risk status of the nuclear power SVDU and assess its risk level and security level. Firstly, the typical information security threats faced by nuclear power SVDU are analyzed. Subsequently, an attack tree model of the system is constructed based on the STRIDE model, with four security attributes assigned to the leaf nodes of the tree with reference to the CVSS4.0 system and multi-attribute utility theory. These attributes are quantified through level scoring, and the risk probability of the leaf nodes is calculated using entropy weighting. The risk probability of the root node is then obtained based on the dependency relationship between nodes. Finally, the security risk rating of nuclear power SVDU is obtained. Experimental results demonstrate that the method in this paper more accurately identifies high-risk security threats, predicts possible attack paths, and provides a basis for security protection strategy selection.

Source: Progress in Nuclear Energy

DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2026.106241

Authors: Yanqun Wu, Junfeng Wang, Quan Ma, Mingxing Liu, Meiyuan Chen

Institutions: Sichuan University, Nuclear Power Institute of China

Language: English

Topic: Information and Cyber Security

Subfield: Information Systems

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,930

Funder: Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province