Nuclear Security Services Corp. (NSSC), a provider of critical infrastructure protection solutions to various industries, has acquired a volumetric-based perimeter alarm system from Siemens Building Technologies (SBT), in an effort to improve its competitive advantages with the technology in new markets.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
NSSC, a private company based in Illinois, previously was the exclusive U.S. licensee of SBT’s Perifeld-M, which is produced in Germany by Siemens [SI]. Over the next year or two NSSC plans to move production of the perimeter intrusion detection system to the U.S, which the company believes will save it money, give it more control over meeting demand for the system, and eliminate cost issues associated with fluctuating foreign exchange rates, Tim Collins, NSSC’s vice president for business development, tells TR2.
Perifeld-M is used to help protect over 20 nuclear plant and other nuclear related facilities and continued federal pressure for more stringent security measures provides additional opportunities for this and other security solutions that NSSC provides, Collins says. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is under a lot of political pressure to require tougher security requirements, which forces the nuclear industry to invest more money in security, he says. The industry has been holding back on making some investments due to expectations that the NRC will be issuing a new threat assessment that will force nuclear power plants and related facilities to upgrade their security, he says.
Additional security may mean more video cameras, guard services, or something else, all areas where NSSC either provides expertise or capability, Collins says. NSSC designs, engineers and integrates security systems and infrastructure for high-end critical infrastructure.
Moreover, the company is quickly looking to expand Perifeld-M to new markets such as chemical and liquefied natural gas facilities and oil refineries due to increasing security requirements, Collins says. NSSC believes the improved pricing advantage the company will have bringing Perifeld-M in-house will give it new competitive advantages, he adds.
NSSC and Perifeld-M were recently selected by a company to provide protection for several refineries in North America. The energy company looked at video analytics but decided against it because the false alarm rates are too high, Collins says. Collins says he can’t disclose the name of the company purchasing its services and technology. He says the Perifeld advantage is that it will go for days at a time without a false alarm, which at high threat facilities usually requires a response by armed guards.
Security solutions often have to help drive costs down, which is made difficult with technology that alarms unnecessarily, Collins says.
A typical Perifeld-M ground set up at a nuclear facility consists of 14-foot poles spaced out along the perimeter that have several field and sense wires strung between each pole. The wires create an electronic field on either side of the line of poles, creating an electronic boundary. Detection occurs by measuring changes in capacitance between the field and sense wires. The algorithms used by Perifeld-M ensure the system can distinguish between humans and animals or different types of debris. The system is typically integrated with video cameras that provide a secondary back up. In a typical nuclear facility set up Perifeld-M is installed between two rows of chain link fence that is topped with barbed wire.
In addition to the typical ground applications, NSSC also provides building-mounted and sea wall electronic perimeter intrusion detection systems using Perifeld-M.