Modelling of a Nuclear Emergency Plan: A system of systems engineering approach

Abstract

A nuclear emergency (NE) may dramatically impact on several interrelated domains such as health, critical infrastructures, land use, etc. A Nuclear Emergency Plan (NEP) involves multiple systems acting in a coordinated way, according to a pre-established organisation, which is endowed with a set of rules, communications and commands. Usually the NEP is top-down defined. In this paper we propose the definition of NEPs from a System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) approach. This conceptualisation facilitates the assessment and analysis of key indicators: the resilience, responsiveness and effectiveness of NEPs. We illustrate the advantages of this approach with the analysis of the communications network (CN) in a real case study.