Stuxnet Virus Attack: Russia Warns of ‘Iranian Chernobyl'

[kristopher]

Stuxnet Virus Attack: Russia Warns of ‘Iranian Chernobyl'
Russian nuclear officials have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus, according to the latest Western intelligence reports.
by Con Coughlin

Russian nuclear scientists are providing technical assistance to Iran's attempts activate the country's first nuclear power plant at the Gulf port. But they have raised serious concerns about the extensive damage caused to the plant's computer systems by the mysterious Stuxnet virus, which was discovered last year and is widely believed to have been the result of a sophisticated joint US-Israeli cyber attack.

According to Western intelligence reports, Russian scientists warned the Kremlin that they could be facing "another Chernobyl" if they were forced to comply with Iran's tight deadline to activate the complex this summer.

After decades of delays over the plant...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/17-1

Russia says Stuxnet could have caused new Chernobyl

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday that NATO should investigate last year's computer virus attack on a Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran, saying the incident could have triggered a nuclear disaster on the scale of Chernobyl.

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to NATO, said the virus that hit the computer system at the Bushehr reactor had caused centrifuges to spin out of control.

"This virus, which is very toxic, very dangerous, could have very serious implications," he said, describing the virus's impact as being like explosive mines.

"These 'mines' could lead to a new Chernobyl," he said, referring to the 1986 nuclear accident at a plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. "NATO should get to investigating the matter... This is not a private topic."...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/26/us-iran-nuclear-russia-idUSTRE70P6WS20110126


To address climate change with nuclear would require us to bring large new reactors online at the rate of a new one every other day for about 50 years.

[NickB79]

1. I love this little gem from Yahoo News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110131/ap_on_hi_te/iran_nuclear_virus

"With control systems disabled by the virus, the reactor would have the force of a "small nuclear bomb," it said."

Does anyone else want to point out what's moronically wrong with that statement, or should I?

[bananas]

2. Chernobyl had a "nuclear excursion" equivalent to a Davy Crockett tactical nuclear weapon

So the article is correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

The Chernobyl disaster was a well-known nuclear accident of catastrophic proportions that occurred on 26 April 1986
...
A second, more powerful explosion occurred about two or three seconds after the first; evidence indicates that the second explosion resulted from a nuclear excursion.
...
This nuclear transient released ~10 tons of TNT equivalent (40 GJ) of energy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticality_accident

A criticality accident, sometimes referred to as an excursion or a power excursion, is an accidental increasing nuclear chain reaction in a fissile material, such as enriched uranium or plutonium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_%28nuclear_device%29

Davy Crockett (nuclear device)

The M-28 or M-29 Davy Crockett Weapon System(s) was a tactical nuclear recoilless gun for firing the M388 nuclear projectile that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War. Named after American soldier, congressman and folk hero Davy Crockett, it was one of the smallest nuclear weapon systems ever built.
...
a selectable yield equivalent to 10 or 20 tons of TNT

[kristopher]

7. Yes, the article is correct.

Thank you for the additional information.

[bananas]

3. Nuclear weapon yield

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_yield

[bananas]

4. Backpack nuke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Atomic_Demolition_Munition



The Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was a family of man-portable nuclear weapons fielded by the US military in the 1960s, but never used in actual combat. The US Army planned to use the weapons in Europe in the event of a Soviet invasion. US Army Engineers would use the weapon to irradiate, destroy, and deny key routes of communication through limited terrain such as the Fulda Gap. Troops were trained to parachute into Soviet occupied western Europe with the SADM and destroy power plants, bridges, and dams.

The project, which involved a small nuclear weapon, was designed to allow one person to parachute from any type of aircraft carrying the weapon package and place it in a harbor or other strategic location that could be accessed from the sea. Another parachutist without a weapon package would follow the first to provide support as needed.

The two-person team would place the weapon package in the target location, set the timer, and swim out into the ocean where they would be retrieved by a submarine or a high-speed surface water craft.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States developed several different types of lightweight nuclear devices. The main one was the W54, a cylinder 40 by 60 cm that weighed 68 kg. It was fired by a mechanical timer and had a variable yield equivalent to between 10 tons and 1 kiloton of TNT. The W54 nuclear device was used in the Davy Crockett Weapon System.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[Dogmudgeon]

6. Before they kill us all, I guess we should get rid of ALL of them

Computers, that is.

--d!