South Korea's nuclear power industry reportedly hacked, raising safety and security concerns

Map and chart of South Korea's 23 atomic reactors, with many more on the drawing boardsAs reported by the Korea JoongAng Daily on Dec. 20th, on Dec. 15th, design blueprints and detailed instructions regarding safety control systems at South Korea's two largest nuclear power plants -- Gori (with six operating reactors, two more under construction, and two more planned) and Wolseong (six operational reactors) -- were posted on South Korea's biggest Web portal site.

At 4,137 Megawatts-electric and 2,779 MWe, respecitvely, the Gori and Wolseong nuclear power plants are already the biggest in the world; but they are projected to expand to 7,937 MWe and 4,779 MWe, respectively. (See the EJA map and chart, above, as well as the Wikipedia entry "Nuclear Power in South Korea.") Altogether, there are currently 23 atomic reactors in South Korea, with more planned.

News of the leak became public once Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corporation (KHNP) -- part of the state-run Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) -- officially requested an investigation by the Seoul Supreme Prosecutor's Office, and the Korean National Police Agency Cyber Bureau, on Dec. 18th. The provocative blog was also supposedly shut down that same afternoon.

Park In-sik, a spokesman for KHNP, was quoted as saying "The blueprint is often used by operators at the Gori plant when managing the reactor. And the program control manual was actually published in 2009 and handed out to employees as part of a training program at the Wolseong 1 reactor."

KHNP was reported to have added: "We acknowledge [our information management] has been lax, but we can only take action against the leak after the investigation is complete. To prevent additional leaks, all data stored on computers inside our offices was encrypted this morning," presumably Dec. 20th.

(Is there a Korean saying akin to the American English "Why close the barn door after the horse is gone?"?!)

The article quoted a National Information Security Service official as warning "If these reactor blueprints and system manuals are leaked, we could be faced with a situation where someone posing as an employee could log onto the main reactor control system and commit a terrorist act."

However, in a Dec. 22nd Reuters article, KHNP downplayed the risks, labeling the stolen data as "non-critical";  a South Korean deputy energy minister, Chung Yang-ho, was quoted as saying "It's our judgment that the control system itself is designed in such a way and there is no risk whatsoever." A KHNP spokesman was also reported to have said "It is 100 percent impossible that a hacker can stop nuclear power plants by attacking them because the control monitoring system is totally independent and closed."

But nuclear reactor design specialist Suh Kune-yull of Seoul National University was quoted by Reuters as countering "This demonstrated that, if anyone is intent with malice to infiltrate the system, it would be impossible to say with confidence that such an effort would be blocked completely. And a compromise of nuclear reactors' safety pretty clearly means there is a gaping hole in national security."

Who leaked the information to the internet, and why?

Although providing no specifics, the Korea JoongAng Daily article reports "Although no details about the identity of the blogger were disclosed, the user identifies themselves [as] 'the head of antinuclear power group's Korean branch.'"

The Korea JoongAng Daily quoted "Who am I?", the user name of the blogger, as writing "Why did we attack the control system? Because we don’t want to suffer disasters like the Fukushima accident...Nuclear power is not a safe source of energy anymore. People living near the nuclear power complex have filed a class action suit claiming that they have been suffering from thyroid cancer."

The Korea JoongAng Daily reported that "hacked information posted on the blog included test results for thyroid cancer for residents living around the Gori reactor, as well as some personal information of about 10,800 current and former KHNP employees."

The atomic reactor-generated radionuclide Iodine-131 is known to cause thyroid pathology, whether released in relatively small amounts as a so-called "routine emission" from regular nuclear power plant operations, or during a nuclear catastrophe, as at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.

But it must be emphasized that the leading anti-nuclear power organizations in South Korea -- groups like KFEM (Korea Federation for Environmental Movements), a national member of Friends of the Earth International -- have a long and proud tradition of non-violent anti-nuclear activism. They are dedicated, of course, to preventing catastrophic radioactivity releases, not facilitating such disasters by making nuclear power plants vulnerable to terrorist attack.

By contrast, the Reuters article placed the supposed anti-nuclear blogger in Hawaii, again providing no specifics. The anti-nuclear power movement of the United States, of course, is unanimously dedicated to non-violence and radiological prevention.

However, the Reuters article explicitly addresses another possibility, the elephant in the room: that the source of the hack was instead the North Korean military dictatorship. After all, the breach of the South Korean nuclear power industry comes amidst accusations by the FBI and White House that the Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea is responsible for a costly hack against Sony Pictures described by President Obama as "cyber vandalism."

Both articles have reported that the provocative blog threatened to expand the attack, and post further revelations of critical nuclear power safety information, on Christmas Day, if the two South Korean nuclear power plants are not shut down, and a ransom (for lack of a better word) paid.

The Guardian has reported the hack has prompted two days of emergency preparedness exercises at South Korean nuclear power plants, as well as increased security vigilance at U.K. atomic reactors.

North Korean threats against U.S. nuclear power plants?!

Bill Gertz, Senior Editor of the blog Washington Free Beacon, reported on Dec. 18th that very heavily redacted U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) documents, recently released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), have revealed that five North Korean commando sleeper cells had been deployed into the U.S. in the 1990s, to potentially attack U.S. nuclear power plants in the event of hostilities between the two countries.

Gertz links to a blog entitled The DMZ War: 1953 to Today, where documents purporting to comprise the DIA FOIA release are posted.

A few other online blogs, such as The Inquisitr, as well as Fox News, have reported on or reprinted the Washington Free Beacon's allegations. However, no other news organizations have done so. Beyond Nuclear can provide no further authentication of the these alarming claims.

Update on December 23, 2014 by admin

Reuters has reported that South Korean officials allege similarities between the recent hack on the South Korean nuclear power industry, and previous hacks on other sectors, such as banking and broadcasting, that it attributed to North Korea. The same article reports that South Korean officials have reached out to U.S. counterparts to assist in the investigation of the nuclear power industry hack.

In a separate article, Reuters has reported that South Korean nuclear power plants have raised their cyber security alert status, and that the South Korean president has spoken out about the gravity of the lapse of cyber security in the nuclear power industry. Reuters has also reported that more leaked documents appear to have been posted on the Internet.

U.S. NRC Commissioners deny appeal on QA at Fermi 3, but binational environmental intervenors vow to fight on

An artist's rendition of the GEH ESBWR, proposed by DTE to be built as "Fermi 3" at its nuclear power plant in Monroe Co., MIOn Dec. 16th, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) five Commissioners, in a unanimous ruling, denied an environmental coalition's appeal in the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) proceeding on Detroit Edison's (DTE) proposed new Fermi 3 reactor in southeast MI on the Lake Erie shore. The binational coalition includes the Canadian group Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, as well as the U.S. groups Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Don't Waste Michigan, and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

DTE proposes to construct and operate an untested General Electric-Hitachi (GEH), so-called "Economic, Simplified Boiling Water Reactor" (ESBWR) on the very spot where Fermi 1 had a partial meltdown in 1966, immediately adjacent to the Fukushima Daiichi twin-design Fermi 2, a GE Mark I BWR.

The coalition requested reconsideration of the ASLB's June 2014 ruling that DTE's Fermi 3 quality assurance (QA) program was adequate, reasserting its preponderence of evidence -- including the testimony of Fairewinds Associates, Inc.'s Chief Engineer, Arnie Gundersen -- that DTE's QA program was in fact in disarray, or even non-existent. The coalition intends to appeal this NRC ruling, and other pending matters, to the federal courts, if need be.

In addition to Fermi 3 on the U.S./Canadian border, GEH has announced that more than a dozen more ESBWRs are on the drawing boards, from North Anna, Virginia, to India and China.

More.

Nuclear power protest in South Africa

Why conservative German farmers are pro-renewable energy

Imagine a country where all the political parties are pro-renewable energy. Look no further than Germany. From The German Energiewende: "Just as in many other countries, farmers in Germany tend to generally vote in a politically conservative manner: In the last federal election, 74% of farmers voted for Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, making them one of the Conservatives’ most loyal supporters. When it comes to renewable energy however, a large majority of farmers are staunch supporters of the Energiewende and the fast development of renewables – an outcome that may surprise people in countries where conservatives oppose renewables."

Read more to find out how and why it worked.

Binational coalition presses case against reactors on Great Lakes

Lake Erie's shores are dotted with numerous large-scale atomic reactors and coal burners. These thermal-electric power plants dump 2/3rds of the heat they generate as waste into the environment, contributing to recent toxic algae blooms visible in this satellite photo.A U.S.-Canadian environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, is working at fever pitch against degraded old, and proposed new, reactors on the Great Lakes shoreline in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio.

Davis-Besse, OH

At U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, the groups Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario (CEA), Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio pressed their case against a 20-year license extension at FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company's problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor east of Toledo. An oral argument pre-hearing was ordered to take place on Nov. 12th by the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) overseeing the License Renewal Application (LRA) proceeding. The coalition first intervented against the license extension nearly four years ago.

Attorney Terry Lodge, Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, and Don't Waste MI's Michael Keegan represented the coalition before NRC ASLBP. The coalition was joined by expert witness Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer of Fairewinds Associates, Inc. The focus of the day-long hearing was the severe, and worsening, cracking of Davis-Besse's concrete containment Shield Building. The dangerously deteriorating Shield Building is the last line of defense against a catastrophic release of hazardous radioactivity, as from a reactor core meltdown and Inner Steel Containment Vessel failure due to a reactor disaster, earthquake, tornado missile, etc. The coalition has filed numerous contentions about the cracking since it was first revealed on October 10, 2011.

The coalition issued a press advisory about the Nov. 12th oral hearing. The Toledo Blade has reported on this story.

Fermi 2, MI

Beyond Nuclear, CEA, and Don't Waste MI, again represented by Toledo-attorney Terry Lodge, will appear at oral argument pre-hearings before an NRC ASLB on November 20th in Monroe, Michigan. The coalition is opposing the 20-year license extension proposed at Detroit Edison's Fermi 2 atomic reactor in nearby Frenchtown Township, on the Lake Erie shore. Fermi 2 is the single biggest G.E. Mark I Boiling Water Reactor in the world -- the same design as melted down and exploded, times three, at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan.

Beyond Nuclear's Reactor Oversight Director, Paul Gunter, will argue a contention calling for radiological filters on hardened vents, an obviously needed safety upgrade actively ignored by a majority of the NRC Commissioners, despite the lessons that should have been learned from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Beyond Nuclear's Freeze Our Fukushimas campaign calls for the shutdown of all U.S. Mark I and II reactors. (See Beyond Nuclear's Freeze Our Fukushimas pamphlet.)

Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, will argue a contention regarding serious safety risks associated with the Fermi nuclear power plant's off-site transmission line corridor, as well as radioactive waste contentions.

Another group, Citizens Resistance at Fermi Two (CRAFT), has launched another 15 contentions against the license extension.

Fermi 3, MI

The coalition comprised of Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (CACC), CEA, Don't Waste MI, and the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter -- again represented by attorney Terry Lodge -- continues to press its case against the proposed new Fermi 3 reactor, to be built on the very site that the Fermi 1 "We Almost Lost Detroit"  reactor partially melted down on October 5, 1966.

The coalition intervened against Fermi 3 on March 9, 2009, and has since filed dozens of contentions against the proposal.

Its transmission line corridor NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) contention is still before the NRC Commissioners, thanks to a sua sponte motion by the NRC ASLBP itself. On behalf of the coalition, Lodge just filed a motion with the NRC Commissioners, supporting the ASLBP's request to the Commissioners for permission to carry out its own independent review of what appears to be NRC staff violations of NEPA, for not including the required "hard look" at the environmental impacts of Fermi 3's transmission line corridor in the FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statement).

In addition, the coalition has appealed the ASLBP's rejection of its quality assurance (QA) contention to the full NRC Commission. Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds serves as the coalition's Fermi 3 QA expert witness. The NRC Commissioners will likely rule on the QA and transmission corridor contentions in the near future.