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Claims Stuxnet Cleared from
Bushehr Nuclear Reactor Premature
AP/News.com.au
The control systems of Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant penetrated by a computer
worm unleashed last year could appear to be functioning normally while the
reactor is melting down.
A new foreign intelligence report yesterday warned it was premature to assume
the danger posed by the Stuxnet virus - which Iran admitted hit the laptops of
technicians working at Bushehr - had passed.
The report, drawn up by a nation closely monitoring Iran's nuclear program and
obtained by The Associated Press, warned of a possible Chernobyl-like disaster
once the site becomes fully operational.
The report said conclusions drawn up by other watchdogs which claimed the danger
had passed were premature and based on the "casual assessment" by Russian and
Iranian scientists at Bushehr.
With control systems disabled by the virus, the reactor would have the force of
a "small nuclear bomb", it said. "The minimum possible damage would be a
meltdown of the reactor...However, external damage and massive environmental
destruction could also occur...similar to the Chernobyl disaster."
The virus, known as Stuxnet, has the ability to send centrifuges spinning out of
control and temporarily crippled Iran's uranium enrichment program.
Some computer experts believe Stuxnet was work of Israel or the United States,
two nations convinced that Iran wants to turn nuclear fuel into weapons-grade
uranium.
While it admitted technicians had battled with the malware, Iran has denied that
the plant was affected or that Stuxnet was responsible for delays in the startup
of the Russian-built reactor. |
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