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2010-09-22 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant pwned?
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Posted by Phort Thaiting4979 2010-09-22 16:15|| || Front Page|| [1 views ]  Top

#1 The Bushehr is not an important part of the Iran Nuclear weapon program.

It is however, a vital 'prestige project'. An Israeli shutdown of Bushehr would be a humiliation. Of course, given the many archaic elements of the Bushehr design (part of the construction dates to the early 70s, parts are German, parts French, parts Russian), shutting it might actually prevent a deadly accident.
Posted by lord garth 2010-09-22 17:11||   2010-09-22 17:11|| Front Page Top

#2 Such sabotage is an interesting engineering thought problem. Likely the idea would be to exceed tolerances in enclosed systems that could not be repaired without a complete rebuild of the plant.

Say pipes embedded in thick concrete. An essential part of the cooling system.
Posted by  Anonymoose 2010-09-22 18:32||   2010-09-22 18:32|| Front Page Top

#3 A couple of extracts from that PCWorld article.

First, the award for "Best Use of Understatement" goes to this paragraph (emphasis added):

Langner thinks that it's possible that Bushehr may have been infected through the Russian contractor that is now building the facility, JSC AtomStroyExport. Recently AtomStroyExport had its Web site hacked, and some of its Web pages are still blocked by security vendors because they are known to host malware. This is not an auspicious sign for a company contracted with handling nuclear secrets.

Ya think?

This is what the engineers call "elegant":

One of the things that Langner discovered is that when Stuxnet finally identifies its target, it makes changes to a piece of Siemens code called Organizational Block 35. This Siemens component monitors critical factory operations -- things that need a response within 100 milliseconds. By messing with Operational Block 35, Stuxnet could easily cause a refinery's centrifuge to malfunction, but it could be used to hit other targets too, Byres said. "The only thing I can say is that it is something designed to go bang," he said.

That is gloriously clever. Nice, nice work.
Posted by Mike 2010-09-22 19:37||   2010-09-22 19:37|| Front Page Top

#4 Coincidentally, Fox reported today that Russia has decided not to deliver the SA-300 missiles to Iran.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/22/russias-medvedev-bans-export-sophisticated-anti-aircraft-systems-iran/
Posted by Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-09-22 20:21||   2010-09-22 20:21|| Front Page Top

#5 Are running a nuke plant on pirated software?

Posted by Uleger Barnsmell4617 2010-09-22 21:05||   2010-09-22 21:05|| Front Page Top

#6 all of your bases are belong to us







Posted by linker 2010-09-22 22:21||   2010-09-22 22:21|| Front Page Top

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