The requirement to strengthen nuclear security gradually increases over time to prevent malicious acts, such as the unauthorized removal and sabotage of nuclear material. However, there has been a lack of tools for researchers regarding the methodology to perform a security assessment for physical protection. This encompasses restricted access to actual facilities and confidential information, the accessibility of security evaluation tools, ambiguity in threat and performance factors (detection, delay, and response), and the validation of models against operational limitations and standards without compromising security.Hence, the present article conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) of the methodologies, tools, and software available or used to ease physical security assessments of nuclear facilities. The present study, which integrates multiple research designs, is a review based on the publication standard, specifically the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). PRISMA is a standardized reporting framework that provides structured guidelines and flowcharts to ensure transparency, comprehensiveness, and auditability.Meanwhile, population or problem, interest, and context (PICo) was chosen as the framework to formulate the research question in the study. PICo helps to define explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria, narrow the scope of database searches, and avoid irrelevant studies. This study performed a SLR using two primary databases, Scopus and Web of Science, with additional support from other databases.Based on the thematic analysis, this review has six main themes: (1) methodologies, tools, and software, (2) facility characterization, (3) target identification, (4) threat definition, (5) response force, and (6) case study scenario. The six main themes further produced 14 subthemes. The findings explain the importance of conducting physical security assessments against nuclear facilities to encourage nuclear facility owners or relevant parties (1) to explore what methodology, tools, and software that are available and (2) to choose and characterize the facility, whether it is an actual nuclear facility or a hypothetical facility, in which some cases involve confidential information.
Ligam et al. (Fri,) studied this question.