About the U.S. nuclear reactors that are showing anomalies,

[The Backlash Cometh]

Are we suppose to reach the conclusion that the sensors from these nuclear plants are shutting down because their triggers are sensing radiation coming from Japan?

[MineralMan]

1. No, not really.

It's just that the reports are getting publicized because of Japan. I've seen some pretty innocuous incidents reported pretty breathlessly since the Fukushima incident. It's more a focus of attention on nuclear power plant issues due to Fukushima, I think.

There are incidents of all kinds happening all the time. Most are reportable, but not dangerous. Heck, if a guy leaves a tool in the wrong place, it's reportable.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Thanks.

It's like we're all living in Homer Simpson's Springfield.

[MineralMan]

4. So it seems. GD just gets weirder and weirder.

Today it's birther nonsense. Tomorrow...well, who knows. You can go the the NRC's website and view every incident report filed for every US nuclear power plant.

There are many, many such reports. Most of them are for minor incidents that still must be reported.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/en.html

[robdogbucky]

6. Bravo MM, Bravo

Nice try. But what do birthers have to do with the rather serious issues of the continued use of nuclear power and our safety?

Why not try thinking outside the box that NRC has you in?


Inspector General Faults NRC for Not Enforcing Safety Regulations| by Dave Lochbaum | nuclear power | nuclear power safety | Japan nuclear |

"The NRC’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report yesterday on its audit of the NRC’s enforcement of a regulation, 10 CFR Part 21, that requires plant owners to report safety equipment defects to the agency. The OIG found serious gaps in enforcement.

In particular the NRC is supposed to:

◦Ensure that plant owners notify it of defects in basic components that could cause a substantial safety hazard.
◦Specify which defects could create a substantial safety hazard.
◦Carry out inspections and other enforcement activities needed to make sure this is happening.

A plant owner may identify a defective component in safety equipment, and is supposed to report it to the NRC. But equally defective parts from the same vendor may have been installed at other reactors, and in that case safety systems at those reactors may not operate properly if needed. The 10 CFR Part 21 regulation is intended to help ensure that the NRC learns of such defective parts so it can take steps necessary to protect the public from defective components supplied to other reactors operated by other owners.

This sounds like common sense. But the OIG found that this regulation is not being followed. Specifically, OIG reported that “analysis of industry data indicate that there are apparent unreported Part 21 defects” and as a result, “the margin of safety for operating reactors could be reduced...”

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/4066602765/inspector-general-faults-nrc-for-not-enforcing-safety

[MineralMan]

8. Well, thank you for your detailed post in response to my

brief statement.

You seem to be under the illusion that I'm in favor of nuclear power generation. You're very wrong in that assessment. You could look in my journal to see some of my previous statements, but I'll sum them up for you:

"Nuclear power generation is not safe. It has never been safe and can never be made to be safe."

I gave a link to a place where people could read incident reports. That is all I did. They are frequent. Most are inconsequential. Right now, they're being posted frequently, since people's minds are on Fukushima. Some of us have followed this for years. I began opposing nuclear power generation in 1959. How about you?

[robdogbucky]

3. Consider Stuxnet?

In the wrong hands, er, in someone's hands.....


Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear DelayBy WILLIAM J. BROAD, JOHN MARKOFF and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: January 15, 2011

This article is by William J. Broad, John Markoff and David E. Sanger.


The Dimona complex in the Negev desert is famous as the heavily guarded heart of Israel’s never-acknowledged nuclear arms program, where neat rows of factories make atomic fuel for the arsenal.

Over the past two years, according to intelligence and military experts familiar with its operations, Dimona has taken on a new, equally secret role — as a critical testing ground in a joint American and Israeli effort to undermine Iran’s efforts to make a bomb of its own.

Behind Dimona’s barbed wire, the experts say, Israel has spun nuclear centrifuges virtually identical to Iran’s at Natanz, where Iranian scientists are struggling to enrich uranium. They say Dimona tested the effectiveness of the Stuxnet computer worm, a destructive program that appears to have wiped out roughly a fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges and helped delay, though not destroy, Tehran’s ability to make its first nuclear arms.

“To check out the worm, you have to know the machines,” said an American expert on nuclear intelligence. “The reason the worm has been effective is that the Israelis tried it out.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/middleeast/16stuxnet.html?_r=2&hp


Israeli security chief celebrates Stuxnet cyber attack

A showreel played at a retirement party for the head of the Israeli Defence Forces has strengthened claims the country's security forces were responsible for a cyber attack on the Iranian nuclear programme.


"The video of Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi's operational successes included references to Stuxnet, a computer virus that disrupted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site last year, Ha'aretz reported.

Although Israel has not officially accepted responsibility for the Stuxnet attack, evidence of its role has been mounting since it was first discovered last July. The virus, unprecedented in its sophistication, was designed to infiltrate the control systems at Natanz and make hidden, damaging adjustments to vital centrifuges.

Attributing the source of cyber attacks in notoriously difficult, but security researchers say factors including complexity of the operation, which would have required human sources inside the Iranian nuclear programme, point strongly to the Israeli security forces. It has also been reported by The New York Times that a special facility was set up with American cooperation in the Israeli desert to test the weapon.

Immediately after the section on Stuxnet, the video tribute to Lt Gen Ashkenazi included a message from Meir Dagan, who was head of Israel's secret intelligence service Mossad during virtually all of Lt Gen Ashkenazi's time in charge of the IDF..."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8326274/Israeli-security-chief-celebrates-Stuxnet-cyber-attack.html


Experts: Stuxnet Changed the Cybersecurity Landscape
By Grant Gross, IDG News

"The appearance of the Stuxnet worm in June should serve as a wake-up call to governments and businesses, especially those relying on Internet-based industrial control systems, a group of cybersecurity experts told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday.

The sophisticated Stuxnet is a "game changer" for companies and governments looking to protect their networks, said Sean McGurk, acting director of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Stuxnet, likely developed by a well-financed team, modifies files of the software running industrial control systems and can also steal the data contained there without the owner knowing it, he told the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

"We have not seen this coordinated effort of information technology vulnerabilities and industrial control exploitation completely wrapped up in one unique package," McGurk said.

Stuxnet illustrates the need for governments and businesses to adopt new approaches to cyberthreats, added Michael Assante, president and CEO of the National Board of Information Security Examiners. "Stuxnet is, at the very least, an important wake-up call for digitally enhanced and reliant countries, and at its worst, a blueprint for future attackers," he said..."

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/210971/experts_stuxnet_changed_the_cybersecurity_landscape.html

Clear and Present Danger: Open Letter to Symantec

"...3. You fail to understand that with the tools mentioned, it is possible to create an attack tool that completely bypasses the vendor’s software and directly attacks PLCs on the network. You fail to understand that in modern installations in the private sector, up to several thousand PLCs per installation are connected to flat networks.

4. You fail to understand that with the basic attack technology copied from Stuxnet, it is even possible to write malicious code that uses PLCs as a launch pad for carried-forward attacks against peer PLCs. You fail to understand that attempts to recover from such attacks require all process network stations to be shut down simultaneously.

5. You fail to understand that potential usage of the attack technology contained in Stuxnet is not limited to APT-style directed attacks with insider knowledge, but can also be used for non-directed attacks in hit-and-run scenarios where the emphasis is on brute-force process disruption, requiring zero insider knowledge.

6. You fail to understand that the hacker underground has been studying control systems for years without any success. You fail to understand that this community will eagerly dismantle Stuxnet as a blueprint for how to cyber-attack installations from the cookie plant next door to power plants..."

Regards

Ralph Langner
Langner Communications GmbH
Fossredder 12, D-22359 Hamburg, Germany

http://www.langner.com/en


http://www.langner.com/en/2010/10/11/stuxnet-logbook-oct-11-2010-1100-hours-mesz/

[MineralMan]

5. Consider horses, not zebras.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/en.html

You can review every incident report on that site. Get some lunch. There are tons of them.

[robdogbucky]

7. As cited aboved, I would not recommend

looking to the fox to tell me how those hens are doing, but apparently you would.

Internal NRC Documents Reveal Doubts about Safety Measures | by Ed Lyman | nuclear power | nuclear power safety | Japan nuclear |



In the weeks following the Fukushima accident, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and nuclear industry officials have been asserting that US nuclear plants are better prepared to withstand a catastrophic event like the March 11 earthquake and tsunami than Japanese plants because they have additional safety measures in place.

According to internal NRC documents, however, there is no consensus within the NRC that US plants are sufficiently protected. The documents indicate that technical staff members doubt the effectiveness of key safety measures adopted after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Therefore, it remains highly uncertain whether the US would be better prepared than the Japanese to manage the aftermath of such severe events. Although the Japanese have engaged in heroic efforts, they have not able to prevent significant damage to reactor cores, spent fuel and containment structures, resulting in huge radioactive releases into the atmosphere and the ocean.

UCS obtained the NRC documents on March 25 from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request we made a month before the Japanese disaster...

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/4391446094/internal-nrc-documents-reveal-doubts-about-safety



NRC Renews License for Nation’s Largest Nuclear Plant, Despite a Long History of Problems
Apr. 22 2011 - 4:50 pm

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed operating licenses for an additional 20-years for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Palo Verde is the nation’s largest generating station, with three pressurized water reactors, each capable of producing 1335 megawatts for a combined capacity of just over 4,000 MW.

Palo Verde, which began operating in the mid-8os, has racked up a large number of safety violations over the years.

In a 2007 investigation, the NRC found that “cost controls had been viewed as more important than safety,” based on interviews with workers at Palo Verde...

...While the NRC is scheduled to meet on May 12 to discuss a safety review of U.S. nuclear plants in light of the Fukushima disaster, the Commission continues to relicense plants. Some countries, such as Germany, have imposed a moratorium on license extensions until a “lessons learned” study of the Japanese accident can be completed.

http://blogs.forbes.com/oshadavidson/2011/04/22/nrc-renews-license-for-nations-largest-nuclear-plant-despite-a-long-history-of-problems/


NRC = Nuclear Industry

[MineralMan]

9. What does that have to do with STUXNET?

I'm confused. My post had to do only with the reference to STUXNET. That seems the least likely thing I can imagine. There are plenty of horses that can cause terrible problems. STUXNET is a zebra.

I write very carefully. It's important not to read anything into my words other than what I wrote. You'll be wrong very often if you try.

[MineralMan]

10. None of that equipment exists at any nuclear power generation

facility. USEC, Inc. is the only manufacturer of enriched fuel rods and assemblies in the United States. There are no centrifuges at nuclear power plants, so STUXNET would be of no use to disrupt those facilities.

http://www.usec.com/

You seem to be missing a couple of steps in your logic here.