Decentralized Maintenance Supply Chain System for Highly Sensitive Assets: ‘Blockchain of Things’ (BCoT)-based Solution

Abstract

Due to existing challenges of operating supply chain for the highly sensitive assets (i.e., nuclear power plants) such as delays, disconnection between asset components’ elements performance evaluation and supply chain process, lack of digitisation, etc. Therefore, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as agency that manages highly-sensitive assets proposed the development of proactive management systems of operating supply chains in order to deal with mentioned challenges, as well as, enabling all parties to collaboratively interact in an integrated system nationally and internationally. Blockchain is a proven technology to enable (1) automating supply chain process in some leading industries (i.e., automotive industry); (2) minimising fragmentation in supply chain, (3) enhancing the trust among suppliers. Moreover, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors can be used to track performances of power plants’ elements to enable performing maintenance in the right time. As such, coupling blockchain and IIoT can enable developing the highly recommended proactive supply chain system by IAEA. In this research, A solution is developed to build the structure and the high-level architecture of the proposed proactive supply chain-based blockchain and IIoT. Moreover, a smart contract is developed to demonstrate the needed functions to manage the entire supply chain process for highly-sensitive assets such as nuclear power plants for energy production.