Monday, January 17, 2011

The Telegraph: Russia Warns of Meltdown at Iran's Bushehr Reactor

In an article in The Telegraph entitled "Stuxnet virus attack: Russia warns of ‘Iranian Chernobyl'" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8262853/Stuxnet-virus-attack-Russia-warns-of-Iranian-Chernobyl.html), Con Coughlin writes:

"Russian nuclear officials have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus, according to the latest Western intelligence reports.

. . . .

Bushehr is due to produce its first electricity for Iran's national grid this summer after Russian technicians started loading the first nuclear rods into the reactor last October.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's foreign minister who also serves as head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, rejected suggestions earlier this month that the Bushehr opening schedule should be postponed. 'All the rumours related to the Westerners' claims that Stuxnet had caused damage to the nuclear plants are rejected,' he said.

However, Russian scientists working at the plant have become so concerned by Iran's apparent disregard for nuclear safety issues that they have lobbied the Kremlin directly to postpone activation until at least the end of the year, so that a proper assessment can be made of the damage caused to its computer operations by Stuxnet."

Perhaps you thought I was joking when I wrote in November:

"Will there be additional surprises awaiting this Iranian enterprise? Sadly, I have already expressed my regrets to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that I will not be able to attend the opening ceremony for the Bushehr power plant - if they ever decide they have removed all the bugs from the operational software - but will send Hugo Chavez in my stead, and when they press the button activating the reactor, I will be pleased to toast their success at a distance of several hundred miles from the meltdown."

http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/11/stuxnet-shuts-down-iranian-centrifuges.html

No joke was intended, and I have cancelled my vacation plans in Iran . . .

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