"None of the proposed preparations to cope with a natural disaster or a terrorist attack are adequate, said Paul Gunter, director of the reactor oversight project for Beyond Nuclear, an anti-nuclear group.

'The fundamental issue is how can you make something that is inherently dangerous safe,' he challenged. 'This is all spin. The vulnerability of nuclear power plants to the loss of offsite power remains an issue coming out of Fukushima as well as 9-11.' "

The still mutating computer worm is designed to reprogram critical functions however researchers do not yet know what types of systems are targeted or how the sabotage is executed. The Islamic Republic News Agency reports that the virus is not stable and since cleanup efforts began three new versions of the infection have been spreading.

The computer worm is reported to have first been discovered in June when researchers found about 45,000 infected computers in various countries including Indonesia and India. However, leading cyber-security analysts have concluded that a system in Iran was the focus of the attack.  The Washington Post quotes a researcher with the security firm Symantec, “We have never seen anything like this before. It is very dangerous.”  

The controversial Bushehr nuclear power plant which would generate weapons usable plutonium as well as electricity was in the final stages of preparation for operation. Originally of German design and launched under the Shah, Iran’s first commercial nuclear power plant was being completed with the aid of Russia after nearly a quarter century of construction.

The New York Times reports “It is also raising fear of dangerous proliferation. Stuxnet has laid bare significant vulnerabilities in industrial control systems. The program is being examined for clues not only by the world’s computer security companies, but also by intelligence agencies and countless hackers.

“Proliferation is a real problem, and no country is prepared to deal with it,” said Melissa Hathaway, a former United States national cybersecurity coordinator. The widespread availability of the attack techniques revealed by the software has set off alarms among industrial control specialists, she said: “All of these guys are scared to death. We have about 90 days to fix this before some hacker begins using it.”

“The ability of Stuxnet to infiltrate these systems will 'require a complete reassessment' of security systems and processes, starting with federal technology standards and nuclear regulations, said Joe Weiss, a specialist in the security of industrial control systems who is managing partner at Applied Control Solutions in Cupertino, Calif.”

Mr. Mobley had cleared all federal background checks to gain access as a contract worker to the nuclear power stations. The Baltimore office of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a case. Nuclear power plant authorities and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission are reported to be collaborating in the investigation.

Regardless of any finding of the investigation into the allegations against Mr. Mobley, the news stories underscore the concern that nuclear power plants are vulnerable pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear power plants have been identified by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States in its 911 Commission report, as high profile targets because of the potential far reaching radiological consequences of successfully sabotaging a reactor and/or the tremendous amounts of highly radioactive waste stored onsite in vulnerable pools and dry casks.  The original al-Qaeda attack plan was to hijack ten commercial aircraft and fly two into US nuclear power stations. Mohammed Atta is reported to have surveilled the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County, New York during his flight training.

Clearly, a sophisticated enemy of the state can introduce a would-be saboteur or an inside informant penetrating  even with the most thorough criminal background checks if an individual has no prior record.  A determined, knowledgeable and well trained adversary can render large portions of the United States uninhabitable if successful.

Such information and more is available today on high-resolution mapping Web sites like Maps Live and Virtual Bird's Eye that publicly provide free updated state-of-the-art satellite photography, according to Scott Portzline, a security analyst with Three Mile Island Alert in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has been grimacing over the threat that comes from the wide public availability of potentially national security-related details. Take for example the level of on-site security detail revealed in a "bird's eye view" of the on-site nuclear waste storage casks stored near Route 9 at the oldest nuclear power plant in the U.S., Oyster Creek nuclear power station in Lacey Township, New Jersey, less than 60 miles from New York City. Portzline writes in his May 13, 2009 letter to the United States Department of Homeland Security: "There now exists a very serious compromise of security at our nation's nuclear power plants. Due to the very high quality of satellite images, terrorists and saboteurs can see far too much detail, which gives specific advantages to an attacking force. Some of the defensive positions of nuclear plant guards are now revealed due to the elevated level of clarity and resolution. Furthermore, these images reveal pathways, stairways and potential staging areas giving terrorists the ability to plan the quickest or best route to the specific targeted buildings".

Nuclear power has always been an inherently dangerous technology. That danger has significantly increased with malicious events like the truck bombing of the Murrah Federal Building by domestic terrorist, Timothy McVeigh, and the devastating al Qaeda hijacked aircraft attacks of September 11, 2001. If someone, by design or by insanity, wants to do maximum damage to public health, the environment and to economically dislocate potentially large geographic areas for a long time, nuclear power plants become the targets of choice.

By necessity and by its very nature, nuclear power is becoming a more secretive operation, incompatible with an open democratic society. The public is already denied its due process to openly challenge nuclear power plant operating licensing proceedings that involve issues over inadequate site security and vulnerable on-site nuclear waste storage. The continued operation, timeless presence and potential expansion of nuclear power poses an increasing threat not only to public health and safety and to national security but to the civil liberties of an open society.

The level of detail now widely available in an exponentially growing information age spotlights the concerns that Mr. Portzline has raised to federal officials. Federal action to blur the detail of virtual images of existing nuclear power plant sites is needed. However, such action in and of itself does not address the growing threat that this particular energy technology will continue to pose now and into the distant future. It does make potentially malicious reconnaissance much less easy to perform by remote and anonymous adversaries. Such suppressive action does, however, highlight and amplify a concern for our civil liberties and forces the question what other information forums must be obscured or denied the public and what other freedoms must be lost to protect us from the threat posed by nuclear power?

Let's be clear - it is not that we need to fear or curtail the operation of legitimate internet businesses or ban high resolution satellite photography from Web sites. These are amazingly informative and educational sites in the new realm of virtual reality. Just take a look at another "bird's eye view" Virtual Bird's Eye for an impressive virtual tour of the Horse Hollow Win Turbines in Taylor County, Texas, one of the world's largest wind turbine farms here in the United States. Taking the tour does not, of course, expose any guard towers or security threats.

That's because there aren't any.

- Paul Gunter