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OCR for page 117
A
Statement of Task
The National Academies' National Research Council presentations from electric power industry groups,
(NRC) will establish a committee of about 18 individuals. federal and state representatives, nonprofit groups,
The committee will consider approaches to reducing the consumer groups, small companies, and others. The
vulnerability, enhancing the robustness, and improving the committee will review the various perspectives vis-à-
resilience and ability to recover of future electrical transmis- vis the vision that has been laid out in the DOE and
sion and distribution (T&D) in the United States to potential EPRI studies (noted above) as at least one point of
terrorist attacks. The committee will use as a starting point reference. The committee will likely organize itself
the three recent reports addressing electric T&D in the into working subgroups to entertain these presenta-
nation, namely, the National Academies' report Making the tions and promote discussion on selected issues, such
Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Coun- as technology, policies, and institutional issues. The
tering Terrorism; the DOE report Grid 2030, A National committee may also include a workshop(s) as part
Vision for Electricity Second 100 Years; and the EPRI report of its early data-gathering activities to help the com-
Electricity Sector Framework for the Future. The study will mittee focus on the priority issues and questions that
address technical, policy, and institutional factors that may need to be answered for its study.
affect the evolution of electrical T&D in the United States (3) Given that the future evolution of electric T&D in
in the midterm (e.g., 3 to 10 years) and the long term (10 the United States is uncertain, the committee may
to 25 years). The committee will identify priority technol- develop a range of scenarios, considering factors
ogy opportunities, R&D directions, policy and institutional affecting future requirements for the nation's T&D
actions, and strategies that will lead to more secure electrical infrastructure, including the need for new capacity,
T&D in the face of an uncertain future. The committee will replacement needs, siting issues, vulnerability to ter-
write a report documenting its findings and recommenda- rorism, and the effects of interconnectedness among
tions. In particular, the committee will likely include the regional networks.
following in its activities: (4) The committee will analyze the likely implications
for the vulnerability, robustness, and recovery and
(1) Examination of the current status of electricity T&D resilience of electrical T&D to potential terrorist
in the United States with the aim of identifying sig- attacks in the midterm (3 to 10 years) as well as the
nificant technological opportunities that can reduce long term (10 to 25 years) with an eye on science and
vulnerability or enhance robustness to potential technology investment.
terrorist attack. The committee can draw on various (5) Analyze how existing and emerging technological
recent studies (noted above) by DOE, EPRI, and the options could improve the reliability, security, robust-
National Academies on electricity T&D in the United ness, and the ability to recover from disruptions to
States, and also on other perspectives that may arrive the electrical T&D system, or systems, and prioritize
at different conclusions than these studies. technical opportunities and R&D needs.
(2) As part of its data-gathering activities, and in order (6) Recommend strategies for implementing the transi-
to elicit a wide array of perspectives on how electric tion from the current situation to a future system that
T&D and supply in the United States may evolve and is less vulnerable to disruption from terrorist attack,
the different approaches to reducing the impact of considering primarily technical barriers.
potential terrorist attacks, the committee will invite
117
OCR for page 118
118 TERRORISM AND THE ELECTRIC POWER DELIVERY SYSTEM
(7) Write a final report documenting its findings and
recommendations.
The National Research Council will issue a final report
approximately 15 to 18 months from the time funds are
received to initiate the study.
