AREVA, Northrop to jointly support US nuclear facilities

Northrop Grumman has partnered with AREVA to provide cybersecurity protection support for the US nuclear industry.

The new strategic partnership has been struck as a response to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s plan that advocates commercial nuclear facilities to develop and implement cybersecurity plans.

Under the terms of the accord, Northrop and AREVA will combine their respective capabilities related to cybersecurity and nuclear power industry regulatory experience, to assist the commission’s regulatory obligation.

AREVA senior vice president of reactors and services Tom Franch said, "Protecting the U.S. nuclear power infrastructure from exploitation and attacks of networks, systems, information and physical assets is an industry concern."

"The value created through this agreement will go a long way in helping our utility customers ensure regulatory compliance with ever-increasing safety requirements and help utilities reinforce public confidence by leveraging advanced instrumentation and control technology," Franch added.

Commenting on the alliance, Northrop Grumman’s Civil Systems division vice president and general manager James Myers said, "We look forward to working with AREVA and combining its nuclear industry capabilities with our significant experience protecting mission-critical operations from cybersecurity threats."

Northrop had received a cybersecurity contract, earlier this year, to develop, integrate and sustain cloud-based information repositories for an integrated product development team environment with the government.

Currently, Northrop provides integrated cybersecurity solutions for all domains of the US military, civilian government and private industry.