NEI Nuclear Notes

While many of us were home for the holidays we couldn't escape the movie trailer for Blackhat , a cyber crime thriller directed by Michael Mann  starring Chris Hemsworth. Set to premiere in the U.S. on January 16, the trailer includes a cyber attack on a nuclear power plant in China. We've dealt with the issue of cyber security with some frequency here at NEI Nuclear Notes. I'd refer our readers back to a post written by NEI's Bill Gross almost two years ago that outlined industry actions in this area to mitigate against the possibility of a cyber attack (emphasis mine). By December 31, 2012, each U.S. nuclear power plant has: Isolated key control systems using either air-gaps or robust hardware based isolation devices. As a result, the key safety, security, and power generation equipment at the plants are protected from any network based cyber attacks originating outside the plant. Enhanced and implemented robust controls over the use of portable media ...