Originally Posted by Osem (Post 35804464)

The dithering of successive governments has led us to where we are desperate to get new power generating capacity and this is the end result. I'll be very surprised if the lights don't start going out well before the new nuclear power stations come online.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35804471)

Private Eye have been going on about this for a while now. This winter especially we may have problems apparently as there is very little slack left in the system so any surge in demand will see measures (such as businesses being cut off during some periods) put into place. We're already very close to the lights going out at these plants are some years off starting let alone being finished. Not to mention the inevitable legal challenges to come.

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees (Post 35804454)

wonton destruction i suspect

Originally Posted by Ramrod (Post 35804487)

"won-ton" destruction? :rofl:

Originally Posted by Osem (Post 35804483)

Frankly the lack of foresight and political will has been staggering and nobody concerned comes out of this with very much credit. We're now in between a rock and a very hard place so perhaps Chinese involvement ought to be the least of our concerns.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35804499)

Not especially bothered about the Chinese part. It's in their interests for this to work out and they're hardly going to steal our plans for how to build nuclear power considering we don't have any!

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet (Post 35804504)

Me either.

Originally Posted by Ramrod (Post 35804511)

There was I worrying about secret backdoors into the code used to run the power stations, backdoors that could conceivably be used against the UK in some way. But your (addmitedly complacent and short sighted) post has put me totally at ease about the potential pitfalls of allowing/inviting a communist nation, famous for state sponsored hacking of military, government and private sector organizations, to build a frigging nuclear reactor here!
:D

Originally Posted by Ramrod (Post 35804511)

There was I worrying (amongst other things) about secret backdoors into the code used to run the power stations, backdoors that could conceivably be used against the UK in some way. But your (addmitedly complacent and short sighted) post has put me totally at ease

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees (Post 35804533)

Your infosec course not teach you about stuxnet?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet

Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 35804547)

Or not have any power, which would be cheaper, but sub-optimal....

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet (Post 35804548)

Yes, which is why I specifically mentioned that Iranian facilities were compromised physically. Some tool brought a USB key into the enrichment facility by most accounts.

Strangely enough I've studied Stuxnet, hence my specifically mentioning SCADA systems. I've read the reports and indeed read the code.

Even had the pleasure of discussing a dissertation on that exact subject, given it was nation state malware using zero-days.



Political. Nothing to do with fears of information security. Going by Snowden's revelations the Chinese would be far more justified to avoid Cisco kit.



Indeed, as I referred to in my post. So explain to me why it matters that China are building the plant?

I referred to out of band communication and airgapping specifically as the primary reason for concern over China building the thing would be a fear they could remotely control the plant. Physical infiltration is a risk whatever.

Regardless of who builds it it is vulnerable to human error, and regardless of who builds it the SCADA systems may be running commercial software which will potentially be vulnerable.

I would highly recommend reading what I wrote with more care, rather than assuming that my course, the best Information Security course in the country, is deficient and/or I'm not paying attention :)

---------- Post added at 11:45 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------



A third alternative is perhaps to borrow the money ourselves, given that we can borrow at historically low rates, and handle the construction domestically.

We are seeing a rather disturbing trend of money leaving the country due to these policies, which is why while GDP per capita is back at pre-crisis levels, disposable income per capita is not - more and more of our national income is being exported.

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter (Post 35804557)

To work in the nuclear industry you require an additional layer of vetting on top of your standard clearance levels. Barring exceptional circumstances you must be a UK citizen born in the UK so this definitely signals a significant shift in el Gov's priorities.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35804564)

Do we even have the ability to build a nuclear power plant? I think we have to depend on foreign expertise anyway.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35804564)

What role are the Chinese actually playing? Presumably they're 'building' it but I doubt they're shipping over workers and instead will provide investment with the French firm EDL actually handling the operations themselves?

Do we even have the ability to build a nuclear power plant? I think we have to depend on foreign expertise anyway.

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter (Post 35804577)

This is merely an assumption but a reasonable one in that they will have senior technical resources involved at the design, build and transition into support of operational procedures. The systems required to support the operation of the plant will be part of the project delivery so it's a pretty sensitive surface to expose to parties that wouldn't normally have visibility thereof.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35804582)

I thought it was a French design and project?