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A year-long investigation by The Guardian, titled “Nuclear leaks,” found that the Sellafield site, located off the coast of Cumbria in the United Kingdom, has been hacked on occasion by teams with close ties to Russia and China. The effects of the cyberattacks, the first of which was detected as early as 2015, have been “constantly concealed by senior officials. “A report published in 2012 also warned that there were “critical safety flaws” at the site.
“Inactive malware,” which describes software that lurks in the background of computer systems and is used to spy on or attack systems, has been embedded in Sellafield’s online networks for about a decade.
It is not yet known whether the malware has been removed, The Guardian reported, but its presence for so long may simply mean that data and knowledge about the site’s most sensitive activities have been passed on to foreign parties. Sellafield is mainly used as a nuclear waste and decommissioning site. It moves radioactive waste from ponds and garage silos, retains spent nuclear fuel from UK power stations, and sells “special nuclear material” to retail outlets.
Sellafield has the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium, a highly reactive steel used to make nuclear weapons, a legacy of its use as a nuclear weapons production site during the Cold War. In addition to its role as a large dumping ground for highly poisonous nuclear waste, the site also hosts contingency plan documents outlining nuclear protocols and the measures the government deserves to take should the UK suffer a foreign attack.
The sources said it is “likely” that foreign hackers have accessed the “highest echelons of the site’s confidential documents,” even though estimates about the extent of lost knowledge and lingering dangers have been muddled due to the inability of site officials to report to regulators. .
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The investigation also found that last year, Sellafield was placed on “special measures” for repeated cybersecurity failings. Watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), is preparing to prosecute individuals for failings related to cybersecurity. A government official familiar with the ONR investigation said that the site’s networks were “fundamentally insecure” and the potential data leaks could be exploited by the UK’s enemies.
Sellafield said in a response to the inquiry: “We take cybersecurity incredibly seriously at Sellafield. All of our formulas and servers have multiple layers of protection. . . The critical networks that allow us to function securely are remote from our overall computer network, which means that an attack on our computing formula would not be able to penetrate them.
“We have no records or evidence to suggest that Sellafield Ltd’s networks have been effectively targeted through state actors in the manner described by the Guardian. Our tracking systems are physically powerful, and we are confident that there is no such malware on our system.
The investigation also found that a leak developing in one of Sellafield’s massive silos, which contains gigantic amounts of nuclear waste, may pose a threat to the public.
Concerns about the dangers of a dilapidated building, as well as cracks in a tank filled with poisonous sludge, known as B30, have sparked diplomatic turmoil with several foreign governments, including the United States, Norway and Ireland.
The leak from the ruined building, known as the Magnox chip garage silo, is expected to continue until 2050, when the waste will be completely relocated. If the leak worsens, contamination of surrounding groundwater could have “potentially significant consequences” for public health. , according to an official document sent to Sellafield board members in November last year.
International considerations about the state of the site have been significant for decades. In 2001, an EU report warned that a first turn of fate at Sellafield could simply create a crisis worse than Chernobyl, basically because the nuclear plant had much more radioactive coverage than the Ukrainian nuclear plant at the time of its crisis. 1986. La smokestack at the site, formerly known as Windscale, in 1957 remains the worst turn of the UK’s nuclear fate.
Diplomatic cables from the US have also raised concerns over Sellafield’s decaying infrastructure. One of the country’s biggest worries is a lack of transparency from the UK Government on the extent of the situation at the site. In 2006, the Irish Government tried to take legal action against Sellafield over its negative environmental impacts.
Scientists are becoming increasingly worried about the extent of radioactive contamination coming from the site. A committee of scientists, known as the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment, noted in minutes released to the public that “the leak has been continuing at the same rate since October 2020, around 2.5m [cubic meters] per day…” but the exact extent of nuclear waste entering the ground was redacted from the documents.
One scientist on the committee said: “It’s hard to know if transparency is put aside because no one’s brave enough to say ‘we simply don’t know how dangerous this is – other than certainly dangerous.
“This is incredibly serious in the context of a situation filled with horrors and reports that no one has adequately documented. “
Sellafield staff have also expressed serious considerations about the dilapidated nature of the B30’s construction, who say the cracks have worsened particularly in recent months. Risk reports observed through resources show that the site now has more than a hundred protection issues that may be a subject of “serious regulatory concern,” ranging from radioactive leaks to chimney protection issues and lack of proper worker training.
The revelations about the severity of what happened at Sellafield come at a time when domestic and foreign interest in nuclear force as a low-carbon source of force is developing. The UK has committed millions of pounds this year to the advancement of the nuclear force in the country. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also announced the publication of the British nuclear plan in his March spring budget, as the country aims to generate 25% of its electricity from nuclear resources by 2050.
On the other hand, 20 countries have just signed an agreement at the United Nations meteorological summit, COP28, to triple nuclear force capacity by 2050 compared to 2020 levels. Shortly after announcing the commitment, French President Emmanuel Macron said that “the nuclear force is back. “He added that the agreement “sends a strong message to the world. “
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