Homeland Security track: U.S. power grid vulnerabilities to be assessed


As electricity's share of the U.S.'s total energy continues to grow, a key to modernizing the power grid will be improving the ability of the system to respond to threats, both natural and deliberate.

The challenges involved in building a more robust power grid will be discussed during a panel discussion on "Electric Infrastructure Security" at ASME's 2004 Congress in Anaheim, Calif. This special session will take place on Monday, Nov. 15 from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

In this panel session, presenters will be addressing the following: Generation Plants — the Nature of Risk; Transmission Systems — Critical Point Identification and Mitigation; Distribution Systems — Critical Customer Analysis and Support; and Control Systems and Cyber Intrusion — Ease of Access and Methods of Protection.

The focus will be on non-sensitive pertinent areas in infrastructure security: sensing/ measurement, sources, data/information processing and protection, communications, and system security.

Massoud Amin, director of the Center for the Development of Technological Leadership and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota, will discuss "Overview: Security and Resilience of Electricity Infrastructures."

Clark W. Gellings, vice president of Power Delivery and Markets at the Electric Power Research Institute, will discuss "The Security of the Electric Power Delivery System" and whether the technologies exist to mitigate vulnerabilities and to assure rapid healing and recovery from any events that may occur.

"Vulnerability Mitigation through Integrated Cyber Defense" will be addressed by Stephen Batsell, chief scientist at Computational Science and Engineering, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He will review the principal vulnerability mechanisms that can be used in a cyber attack on control systems, as well as discuss ways of mitigating risk of an attack by proper engineering design.

Batsell will also talk about the benefits of an integrated sensing approach for cyber defense and enhanced situational awareness.

For more information on other panel discussions related to power grid issues and other technical sessions that make up the Homeland Securities Track and the Energy Track at the Congress, visit www.asmeconferences.org/
Congress04/TechnicalProgramOverview.cfm.

back to meetings & courses