U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) highlighted the potential for sabotage of spent nuclear fuel storage pools Monday in asking the heads of several federal agencies for details about recent reports of foreign cyberattacks on U.S. nuclear power installations.
“Given the consequences of a breach of safety at a nuclear power station – including the deliberate sabotage of the reactor core or the spent-fuel storage pool – evidence that foreign governments have targeted U.S. nuclear power stations must be treated with the utmost gravity,” Markey wrote in his letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Kristine Svinicki, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
He asked for answers by Aug. 10 to nine questions, including: how many U.S. nuclear power plants have been impacted by cyberattacks; how the various federal agencies are coordinating to counter the threat; and whether power plant operators are providing adequate resources to cybersecurity.
The senator, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations cybersecurity subcommittee, also asked for a classified briefing on potential cyber vulnerability of nuclear power and other key infrastructure.
A spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute on Monday told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing that used fuel management systems, among other nuclear power plant safety and control systems, are not connected to the Internet or business networks to defend against cyberattacks.
NEI, the trade group for the U.S. nuclear industry, said it is not aware of any attempted cyberattacks on retired nuclear plants that still house spent fuel.
Nonetheless, Markey suggested the United States should not take comfort in the fact that the recent cyberattacks hit administrative and business networks. There is “no guarantee that malicious code could not migrate to physical control systems,” he wrote.
