Are nuclear plants cyber secure- another nuclear plant control system cyber incident
Nov. 15, 2012
November 9th, Susquehanna Unit 2 had a manual shutdown (scram) of the plant due to a failure of the Integrated Control System (ICS) which controls feedwater flow and other systems. The ICS is not a safety system but affects the functionality of the plant. The impact of the incident was a loss of 1250MW to the electric grid which is obviously a reliability concern. It is not clear what caused the ICS to fail or even what the failure actually was as there are different newspaper accounts. This was not the first control system cyber incident at Susquehanna.
November 9th, Susquehanna Unit 2 had a manual shutdown (scram) of the plant due to a failure of the Integrated Control System (ICS) which controls feedwater flow and other systems. The ICS is not a safety system but affects the functionality of the plant. The impact of the incident was a loss of 1250MW to the electric grid which is obviously a reliability concern. It is not clear what caused the ICS to fail or even what the failure actually was as there are different newspaper accounts. This was not the first control system cyber incident at Susquehanna. As far as I can tell, there have been more than 15 ICS cyber incidents at US nuclear plants. Based on those incidents and the recent detailed technical cyber assessment of an international nuclear plant, it is not clear that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regulatory Guide 5-71 or the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)-0809 provides an adequate level of guidance to assure the security of the critical systems in nuclear power plants.
The tiny EZminiWiFi is a godsend for the plant maintenance engineers who need to make a minor modification to the HMI program or, for that matter, the PLC program. It's very easy...
Discover the benefits of American-made automation products, including stable pricing, faster delivery, and innovative features tailored to real-world applications. With superior...
Over the past 50 years, the automation technology landscape has changed dramatically, but many of the underlying industry needs remain unchanged. To learn more about what’s changed...
Watch EZAutomation's recent feature on the popular FOX Network series "Manufacturing Marvels" and discover what makes them a force to be reckoned with in industrial automation...