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110-581: Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (or Kudankulam NPP or KKNPP ) is the largest nuclear power station in India, situated in Kudankulam in the Tirunelveli district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu . Construction on the plant began on 31 March 2002, but faced several delays due to opposition from local fishermen. KKNPP is scheduled to have six VVER-1000 reactors built in collaboration with Atomstroyexport ,

220-404: A carbon footprint comparable to that of renewable energy such as solar farms and wind farms , and much lower than fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal . Nuclear power plants are among the safest modes of electricity generation, comparable to solar and wind power plants. The first time that heat from a nuclear reactor was used to generate electricity was on December 21, 1951, at

330-467: A cyberweapon . The exploit was then stolen by the Shadow Brokers hacker group, who first tried to auction it off, but after failing to do that simply gave it away for free. The NSA subsequently revealed the vulnerability to Microsoft who issued an update on March 14, 2017, a little under a month before the attack occurred. It wasn't enough. The update wasn't mandatory and the majority of computers with

440-420: A steam generator and heats water to produce steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-stage steam turbine . After the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in a condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger which is connected to a secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower . The water is then pumped back into the steam generator and

550-521: A Reddit post appeared stating that Sony Pictures had been hacked via unknown means; the perpetrators identified themselves as the "Guardians of Peace". Large amounts of data were stolen and slowly leaked in the days following the attack. An interview with someone claiming to be part of the group stated that they had been siphoning Sony's data for over a year. The hackers were able to access previously unreleased films, scripts for certain films, plans for future films, information about executive salaries at

660-484: A credit of ₹ 6,416 crore (US$ 0.97 billion) for both the units. Unit 2 attained criticality on 10 July 2016 and was synchronised with the electricity grid on 29 August. In 2015, Nuclear Power Corporation Ltd (NPCIL) announced a price of ₹ 4.29/ kW·h (6.4 ¢/kW·h) for energy delivered from Kudankulam nuclear power plant. The ground-breaking ceremony for construction of units 3 & 4 was performed on 17 February 2016. Due to technology changes, inflation and insistence of

770-421: A distance of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi). Until 2004, materials had to be brought in via road from the port of Thoothukudi , risking damage during transportation. In 2008, negotiations on building four additional reactors at the site began. Though the capacity of these reactors had not been declared, it was expected that the capacity of each reactor will be 1,200 MW (1.2 GW). The new reactors would bring

880-402: A facility has been completely decommissioned it is released from regulatory control, and the licensee of the station no longer has responsibility for its nuclear safety. Generally speaking, nuclear stations were originally designed for a life of about 30 years. Newer stations are designed for a 40 to 60-year operating life. The Centurion Reactor is a future class of nuclear reactor that

990-504: A few hours by the police. The protesters were set to join protests objecting resumption of work of one of two 1 GW reactors, a day after the local government restarted work on the project. There have also been rallies and protests in favour of commissioning this nuclear power plant. On, 24 February 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed foreign NGOs for protests at the power plant. News agencies reported that three NGOs had diverted donations earmarked for religious and social causes to

1100-458: A group of North Korean hackers targeting cybersecurity researchers via a social engineering campaign, with Microsoft specifically attributing the campaign to the Lazarus Group. The hackers created multiple user profiles on Twitter , GitHub , and LinkedIn posing as legitimate software vulnerability researchers, and used those profiles to interact with posts and content made by others in

1210-582: A lane located next to the Atommash plant as Kudankulam Alley in November 2018. The plant, which is owned by Rosatom , manufactures equipment for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. Nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant ( NPP ), also known as a nuclear power station ( NPS ), nuclear generating station ( NGS ) or atomic power station ( APS ) is a thermal power station in which

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1320-431: A mixture of liquid water and steam at saturation conditions, from the turbine-generator exhaust and condenses it back into sub-cooled liquid water so it can be pumped back to the reactor by the condensate and feedwater pumps. In the main condenser, the wet vapor turbine exhaust come into contact with thousands of tubes that have much colder water flowing through them on the other side. The cooling water typically come from

1430-404: A natural body of water such as a river or lake. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station , located in the desert about 97 kilometres (60 mi) west of Phoenix, Arizona, is the only nuclear facility that does not use a natural body of water for cooling, instead it uses treated sewage from the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The water coming from the cooling body of water is either pumped back to

1540-429: A nuclear power plant often spans five to ten years, which can accrue significant financial costs, depending on how the initial investments are financed. Because of this high construction cost and lower operations, maintenance, and fuel costs, nuclear plants are usually used for base load generation, because this maximizes the hours over which the fixed cost of construction can be amortized. Nuclear power plants have

1650-479: A nuclear station is smaller than the fuel cost for operation of coal or gas plants. Since most of the cost of nuclear power plant is capital cost, there is almost no cost saving by running it at less than full capacity. Nuclear power plants are routinely used in load following mode on a large scale in France, although "it is generally accepted that this is not an ideal economic situation for nuclear stations". Unit A at

1760-506: A number of long-established projects are struggling to find financing, notably Belene in Bulgaria and the additional reactors at Cernavodă in Romania , and some potential backers have pulled out. Where cheap gas is available and its future supply relatively secure, this also poses a major problem for nuclear projects. Analysis of the economics of nuclear power must take into account who bears

1870-444: A previous goal aimed to reduce nuclear electricity generation share to lower than fifty percent by 2025, this target was postponed to 2035 in 2019 and ultimately discarded in 2023. Russia continues to export the most nuclear power plants in the world, with projects across various countries: as of July 2023, Russia was constructing 19 out of 22 reactors constructed by foreign vendors; however, some exporting projects were canceled due to

1980-587: A significantly different evaluation of the economics of new nuclear power stations. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan , costs are likely to go up for currently operating and new nuclear power stations, due to increased requirements for on-site spent fuel management and elevated design basis threats. However many designs, such as the currently under construction AP1000, use passive nuclear safety cooling systems, unlike those of Fukushima I which required active cooling systems, which largely eliminates

2090-413: A slight decrease from the 2653 TWh produced in 2021. Thirteen countries generated at least one-quarter of their electricity from nuclear sources. Notably, France relies on nuclear energy for about 70% of its electricity needs, while Ukraine , Slovakia , Belgium , and Hungary source around half their power from nuclear. Japan , which previously depended on nuclear for over a quarter of its electricity,

2200-427: A small enough volume to become supercritical. Most reactors require continuous temperature control to prevent a core meltdown , which has occurred on a few occasions through accident or natural disaster, releasing radiation and making the surrounding area uninhabitable. Plants must be defended against theft of nuclear material and attack by enemy military planes or missiles. The most serious accidents to date have been

2310-517: A small group of operators, especially to South Korea. The earliest known attack that the group is responsible for is known as "Operation Troy", which took place from 2009 to 2012. This was a cyber-espionage campaign that utilized unsophisticated distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) techniques to target the South Korean government in Seoul. They were also responsible for attacks in 2011 and 2013. It

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2420-463: A sub-group within their organisation, which Kaspersky called Bluenoroff, specialised in financial cyberattacks. Kaspersky found multiple attacks worldwide and a direct link ( IP address ) between Bluenoroff and North Korea. However, Kaspersky also acknowledged that the repetition of the code could be a “false flag” meant to mislead investigators and pin the attack on North Korea, given that the worldwide WannaCry worm cyber attack copied techniques from

2530-447: A successful $ 49 million theft from an institution in Kuwait . Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic , pharmaceutical companies became major targets for the Lazarus Group. Using spear-phishing techniques, Lazarus Group members posed as health officials and contacted pharmaceutical company employees with malicious links. It is thought that multiple major pharma organizations were targeted, but

2640-498: A system, strategic web compromise, and accessing Linux servers. It's reported that they sometimes work together with criminal hackers. AndAriel (also spelled Andarial, and also known as: Silent Chollima, Dark Seoul, Rifle, and Wassonite ) is logistically characterized by its targeting of South Korea . AndAriel's alternative name is called Silent Chollima due to the stealthy nature of the subgroup. Any organization in South Korea

2750-482: A three-year research study of offshore floating nuclear power generation. In October 2022, NuScale Power and Canadian company Prodigy announced a joint project to bring a North American small modular reactor based floating plant to market. The economics of nuclear power plants is a controversial subject, and multibillion-dollar investments ride on the choice of an energy source. Nuclear power stations typically have high capital costs, but low direct fuel costs, with

2860-449: A vulnerability in the Windows operating system, then encrypted the computer's data in return for a sum of Bitcoin worth roughly $ 300 to get the key. In order to encourage payment, the ransom demand doubled after three days, and if not paid in a week, the malware deletes the encrypted data files. The malware used a legitimate piece of software called Windows Crypto, made by Microsoft to scramble

2970-464: A wiper attack that targeted three South Korean broadcast companies, financial institutes, and an ISP. At the time, two other groups going by the personas ″NewRomanic Cyber Army Team and WhoIs Team″, took credit for that attack but researchers did not know the Lazarus Group was behind it at the time. Researchers today know the Lazarus Group as a supergroup behind the disruptive attacks. The Lazarus Group attacks culminated on November 24, 2014. On that day,

3080-580: A worldwide perspective, long-term waste storage costs are uncertain. Construction, or capital cost aside, measures to mitigate global warming such as a carbon tax or carbon emissions trading , increasingly favor the economics of nuclear power. Further efficiencies are hoped to be achieved through more advanced reactor designs, Generation III reactors promise to be at least 17% more fuel efficient, and have lower capital costs, while Generation IV reactors promise further gains in fuel efficiency and significant reductions in nuclear waste. In Eastern Europe,

3190-415: Is 3,000 MW, gross electrical capacity is 1,000 MW with a net capacity of 917 MW. Construction is by NPCIL and Atomstroyexport . The plant is the largest nuclear power generation complex in India producing a cumulative 2 GW of electric power. Both units are water-cooled, water-moderated power reactors. The first reactor of the plant attained criticality on 13 July 2013 and was connected to

3300-786: Is a continuation of North Korea’s interest in cryptocurrency, which we now know encompasses a broad range of activities including mining, ransomware, and outright theft...” The report also said that North Korea was using these cryptocurrency attacks to avoid international financial sanctions. North Korean hackers stole US$ 7 million from Bithumb , a South Korean exchange in February 2017. Youbit, another South Korean Bitcoin exchange company, filed for bankruptcy in December 2017 after 17% of its assets were stolen by cyberattacks following an earlier attack in April 2017. Lazarus and North Korean hackers were blamed for

3410-692: Is about 1/3 of solar and 1/45 of natural gas and 1/75 of coal . Newer models, like HPR1000 , produce even less carbon dioxide during the whole operating life, as little as 1/8 of power plants using gen II reactors for 1.31g/kWh. Lazarus Group The Lazarus Group has strong links to North Korea . The United States Department of Justice has claimed the group is part of the North Korean government's strategy to "undermine global cybersecurity ... and generate illicit revenue in violation of ... sanctions". North Korea benefits from conducting cyber operations because it can present an asymmetric threat with

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3520-557: Is also called APT38 (by Mandiant ) and Stardust Chollima (by Crowdstrike ). According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Army, Bluenoroff has about 1,700 members carrying out financial cybercrime by concentrating on long-term assessment and exploiting enemy network vulnerabilities and systems for financial gain for the regime or to take control of the system. They target financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges, including over 16 organizations in at least 13 countries between 2014 and 2021: Bangladesh, Chile, India, Mexico, Pakistan,

3630-520: Is anticipated to resume similar levels of nuclear energy utilization. Over the last 15 years, the United States has seen a significant improvement in the operational performance of its nuclear power plants, enhancing their utilization and efficiency, adding the output equivalent to 19 new 1000 MWe reactors without actual construction. In France, nuclear power plants still produce over sixty percent of this country's total power generation in 2022. While

3740-503: Is being designed to last 100 years. One of the major limiting wear factors is the deterioration of the reactor's pressure vessel under the action of neutron bombardment, however in 2018 Rosatom announced it had developed a thermal annealing technique for reactor pressure vessels which ameliorates radiation damage and extends service life by between 15 and 30 years. Nuclear stations are used primarily for base load because of economic considerations. The fuel cost of operations for

3850-607: Is expected to be ready for commissioning in December 2026, while unit 6 is expected to be ready by September 2027. In 2019, NPCIL confirmed identification of malware in the internet connected administrative network but said that the critical internal network was isolated . KNPP officials had earlier termed reports on the cyber attack as false. The malware was linked to the North Korea based Lazarus Group . The reactors are pressurised water reactor of Russian design, model VVER-1000/V-412 referred also as AES-92 . Thermal capacity

3960-439: Is fissile which means that it is easily split and gives off a lot of energy making it ideal for nuclear energy. On the other hand, U-238 does not have that property despite it being the same element. Different isotopes also have different half-lives . U-238 has a longer half-life than U-235, so it takes longer to decay over time. This also means that U-238 is less radioactive than U-235. Since nuclear fission creates radioactivity,

4070-445: Is mounted to track the outlet steam of the steam generator. In contrast, boiling water reactors pass radioactive water through the steam turbine, so the turbine is kept as part of the radiologically controlled area of the nuclear power station. The electric generator converts mechanical power supplied by the turbine into electrical power. Low-pole AC synchronous generators of high rated power are used. A cooling system removes heat from

4180-410: Is no need to click on a bad link - the malware can spread autonomously, from a computer to a connected printer, and then beyond to adjacent computers, perhaps connected to the wifi, etc. The port 445 vulnerability allowed the malware to move freely across intranets, and infect thousands of computers rapidly. The Wannacry attack was one of the first large scale uses of a cryptoworm. The virus exploited

4290-708: Is possible that they were also behind a 2007 attack targeting South Korea, but that is still uncertain. A notable attack that the group is known for is the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures . The Sony attack used more sophisticated techniques and highlighted how advanced the group has become over time. The Lazarus Group were reported to have stolen US$ 12 million from the Banco del Austro in Ecuador and US$ 1 million from Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank in 2015. They have also targeted banks in Poland and Mexico. The 2016 bank heist included an attack on

4400-711: Is vulnerable to AndAriel. Targets include government, defense, and any economic symbol. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Army, Andarial has about 1,600 members whose mission is reconnaissance, assessment of the network vulnerabilities, and mapping the enemy network for potential attack. In addition to South Korea, they also target other governments, infrastructure, and businesses. Attack vectors include: ActiveX, vulnerabilities in South Korean software, watering hole attacks , spear phishing (macro), IT management products (antivirus, PMS), and supply chain (installers and updaters). Malware used include: Aryan , Gh0st RAT , Rifdoor , Phandoor , and Andarat . In February 2021,

4510-560: The Axie Infinity game. The FBI said "Through our investigations we were able to confirm the Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with [North Korea], are responsible for the theft". The FBI confirmed that the North Korean malicious cyber actor group Lazarus (also known as APT38) was responsible for the theft of $ 100 million of virtual currency from Harmony's Horizon bridge reported on June 24, 2022. A report published by blockchain security platform Immunefi, alleged that Lazarus

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4620-716: The Bangladesh Bank , successfully stealing US$ 81 million and was attributed to the group. In 2017, the Lazarus group was reported to have stolen US$ 60 million from the Far Eastern International Bank of Taiwan although the actual amount stolen was unclear, and most of the funds were recovered. It is not clear who is really behind the group, but media reports have suggested the group has links to North Korea . Kaspersky Lab reported in 2017 that Lazarus tended to concentrate on spying and infiltration cyberattacks whereas

4730-802: The Experimental Breeder Reactor I , powering four light bulbs. On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power station to generate electricity for a power grid , the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant , commenced operations in Obninsk , in the Soviet Union . The world's first full scale power station, Calder Hall in the United Kingdom , opened on October 17, 1956 and was also meant to produce plutonium . The world's first full scale power station solely devoted to electricity production

4840-526: The Google Chrome browser, suggesting that the hackers may have used a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability affecting Chrome for the attack; however, Google stated that they were unable to confirm the exact method of compromise at the time of the report. In March 2022, the Lazarus Group was found responsible for stealing $ 620 million worth of cryptocurrencies from the Ronin Network, a bridge used by

4950-530: The Kim Chaek University of Technology , Kim Il-sung University and Moranbong University, which picks the brightest students from across the country and puts them through six years of special education. Lazarus is believed to have two units. BlueNorOff (also known as: APT38, Stardust Chollima, BeagleBoyz, NICKEL GLADSTONE ) is a financially motivated group that is responsible for the illegal transfers of money via forging orders from SWIFT . BlueNorOff

5060-752: The Mydoom and Dozer malware to launch a large-scale, but quite unsophisticated, DDoS attack against US and South Korean websites. The volley of attacks struck about three dozen websites and placed the text "Memory of Independence Day" in the master boot record (MBR). Over time, attacks from this group have grown more sophisticated; their techniques and tools have become better developed and more effective. The March 2011 attack known as "Ten Days of Rain" targeted South Korean media, financial, and critical infrastructure, and consisted of more sophisticated DDoS attacks that originated from compromised computers within South Korea. The attacks continued on March 20, 2013, with DarkSeoul,

5170-491: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . Meanwhile, China continues to advance in nuclear energy: having 25 reactors under construction by late 2023, China is the country with the most reactors being built at one time in the world. Nuclear decommissioning is the dismantling of a nuclear power station and decontamination of the site to a state no longer requiring protection from radiation for the general public. The main difference from

5280-656: The UAE launched the Arab region's first-ever nuclear energy plant. Unit 1 of the Barakah plant in the Al Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi commenced generating heat on the first day of its launch, while the remaining 3 Units are being built. However, Nuclear Consulting Group head, Paul Dorfman, warned the Gulf nation's investment into the plant as a risk "further destabilizing the volatile Gulf region, damaging

5390-699: The US Department of Justice indicted three members of the Reconnaissance General Bureau , a North Korean military intelligence agency, for having participated in several Lazarus hacking campaigns: Park Jin Hyok , Jon Chang Hyok and Kim Il Park. Jin Hyok had already been indicted earlier in September 2018. The individuals are not in U.S. custody. A Canadian and two Chinese individuals have also been charged with having acted as money mules and money launderers for

5500-519: The heat source is a nuclear reactor . As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity . As of September 2023 , the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that there were 410 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world, and 57 nuclear power reactors under construction. Building

5610-424: The 1970s and 1980s, when it "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies," in some countries. Proponents argue that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source which reduces carbon emissions and can increase energy security if its use supplants a dependence on imported fuels. Proponents advance the notion that nuclear power produces virtually no air pollution, in contrast to

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5720-485: The 1979 Three Mile Island accident , the 1986 Chernobyl disaster , and the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , corresponding to the beginning of the operation of generation II reactors . Professor of sociology Charles Perrow states that multiple and unexpected failures are built into society's complex and tightly coupled nuclear reactor systems. Such accidents are unavoidable and cannot be designed around. An interdisciplinary team from MIT has estimated that given

5830-559: The Brussels supplementary convention, and the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage . However states with a majority of the world's nuclear power stations, including the U.S., Russia, China and Japan, are not party to international nuclear liability conventions. The nuclear power debate about the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes peaked during

5940-460: The Fukushima nuclear accident, particularly on the post-shut-down cooling system", and also added Fukushima nuclear accident should not deter or inhibit India from pursuing a safe civil nuclear programme. The Tamil Nadu state government formed a four-member expert panel which submitted a report to the government after inspecting the safety features of the plant. The Tamil Nadu government in the wake of

6050-527: The Government of India, which did a survey of the safety features in the plant, vouched for the safety of the Kudankulam reactors. Dr Muthunayagam, who headed the panel, said that the protesters asked for some documents which are not related to the safety of the reactor. Nuclear scientist and principal scientific adviser to the federal Government of India Rajagopala Chidambaram has said "We have learnt lessons from

6160-497: The Kudankulam nuclear power project (KKNPP). Unit 1 was shut down in June 2015 for refuelling and annual maintenance. On 21 January 2016 the reactor restarted and was connected to grid on 30 January 2016. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project Site Director D. S. Choudhary stated on 26 January 2018 that units 1 and 2 of the nuclear plant had generated a combined total of 22,800 million units since they began functioning. People had been opposing

6270-409: The Kudankulam was constructed on a solid terrain and that too keeping all the safety aspects in mind. Also, we are not in a tsunami prone area. The plants in Kudankulam have a double containment system which can withstand high pressure. At least ₹ 14,000 crore has been spent. If we don't operate the plant immediately, it will affect the economic stability of our country". A centre panel constituted by

6380-660: The NHS in Britain, to Boeing, and even to Universities in China on the 12th of May, 2017. The attack lasted 7 hours and 19 minutes. Europol estimates it affected nearly 200,000 computers in 150 countries, primarily affecting Russia, India, Ukraine, and Taiwan. This was one of the first attacks of a cryptoworm . Cryptoworms are a class of malware that travels between computers using networks, without requiring direct user action for infection — in this case, exploiting TCP port 445 . To be infected, there

6490-499: The NSA as well. This ransomware leverages an NSA exploit known as EternalBlue that a hacker group known as Shadow Brokers made public in April 2017. Symantec reported in 2017 that it was "highly likely" that Lazarus was behind the WannaCry attack. The Lazarus Group's first major hacking incident took place on July 4, 2009, and sparked the beginning of "Operation Troy". This attack utilized

6600-562: The Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam. The revenue is believed to go towards the development of missile and nuclear technology. BlueNorOff's most infamous attack was the 2016 Bangladesh Bank robbery in which they tried to use the SWIFT network to illegally transfer close to US$ 1 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account belonging to Bangladesh Bank ,

6710-476: The Philippines. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York blocked the remaining thirty transactions, amounting to US$ 850 million, due to suspicions raised by a misspelled instruction. Cybersecurity experts claimed that the North Korea–based Lazarus Group was behind the attack. The WannaCry attack was a massive ransomware cyberattack that hit institutions across the globe ranging all the way from

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6820-746: The Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi and the Soviet head of state, Mikhail Gorbachev , for the construction of two reactors. The project remained in limbo for a decade due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union . There were also objections from the United States , on the grounds that the agreement did not meet the 1992 terms of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). M. R. Srinivasan , Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman from 1987 to 1990, called

6930-494: The Russian state company and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), with an installed capacity of 6,000 MW of electricity. Unit 1 was synchronised with the southern power grid on 22 October 2013 and since then, has been generating electricity at its warranted limit of 1,000 MW. The original cost of the two units was ₹ 13,171 crore , but it was later revised to ₹ 17,270 crore (US$ 2.6 billion). Russia advanced

7040-610: The WannaCry ransomware and the attacks on Sony Pictures. One of the tactics used by Lazarus hackers was to exploit vulnerabilities in Hancom 's Hangul , a South Korean word processing software. Another tactic was to use spear-phishing lures containing malware and which were sent to South Korean students and users of cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinlink. If the user opened the malware it stole email addresses and passwords. Coinlink denied their site or users emails and passwords had been hacked. The report concluded that “This late-2017 campaign

7150-477: The acute power shortages in the state has ordered in favour of the commissioning of the plant. Government of India announced the power allocation from the two units of the reactor on 29 August 2013. As of 1 December 2021, the government is considering to increase its capability to 6,000 MW, on completion of KKNPP-3 & 4 (2 x 1,000 MW) and KKNPP-5 & 6 (2 x 1,000 MW) which are presently under construction. The town council of Volgodonsk , Rostov Oblast named

7260-466: The attacks. Nicehash , a cryptocurrency cloud mining marketplace lost over 4,500 Bitcoin in December 2017. An update about the investigations claimed that the attack is linked to the Lazarus Group. In mid-September 2019, the USA issued a public alert about a new version of malware dubbed ElectricFish. Since the beginning of 2019, North Korean agents have attempted five major cyber-thefts world-wide, including

7370-955: The central bank of Bangladesh. After several of the transactions went through (US$ 20 million traced to Sri Lanka and US$ 81 million to the Philippines ), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York blocked the remaining transactions, due to suspicions raised by a misspelling. Malware associated with BlueNorOff include: " DarkComet , Mimikatz , Nestegg , Macktruck , WannaCry , Whiteout , Quickcafe , Rawhide , Smoothride , TightVNC , Sorrybrute , Keylime , Snapshot , Mapmaker , net.exe , sysmon , Bootwreck , Cleantoad , Closeshave , Dyepack , Hermes , Twopence , Electricfish , Powerratankba , and Powerspritz " Tactics commonly used by BlueNorOff include: phishing, backdoors, Drive-by compromise, Watering hole attack , exploitation of insecure out-of-date versions of Apache Struts 2 to execute code on

7480-552: The chief viable alternative of fossil fuel. Proponents also believe that nuclear power is the only viable course to achieve energy independence for most Western countries. They emphasize that the risks of storing waste are small and can be further reduced by using the latest technology in newer reactors, and the operational safety record in the Western world is excellent when compared to the other major kinds of power plants. Opponents say that nuclear power poses many threats to people and

7590-453: The company, emails, and the personal information of around 4,000 employees. Under the name ″Operation Blockbuster″, a coalition of security companies, led by Novetta, was able to analyse malware samples found in different cyber-security incidents. Using that data, the team was able to analyse the methods used by the hackers. They linked the Lazarus Group to a number of attacks through a pattern of code re-usage. Bangladesh Bank cyber heist,

7700-485: The costs of fuel extraction, processing, use and spent fuel storage internalized costs. Therefore, comparison with other power generation methods is strongly dependent on assumptions about construction timescales and capital financing for nuclear stations. Cost estimates take into account station decommissioning and nuclear waste storage or recycling costs in the United States due to the Price Anderson Act . With

7810-487: The cycle begins again. The water-steam cycle corresponds to the Rankine cycle . The nuclear reactor is the heart of the station. In its central part, the reactor's core produces heat due to nuclear fission. With this heat, a coolant is heated as it is pumped through the reactor and thereby removes the energy from the reactor. The heat from nuclear fission is used to raise steam, which runs through turbines , which in turn power

7920-458: The dismantling of other power stations is the presence of radioactive material that requires special precautions to remove and safely relocate to a waste repository. Decommissioning involves many administrative and technical actions. It includes all clean-up of radioactivity and progressive demolition of the station. Once a facility is decommissioned, there should no longer be any danger of a radioactive accident or to any persons visiting it. After

8030-481: The electrical generators. Nuclear reactors usually rely on uranium to fuel the chain reaction. Uranium is a very heavy metal that is abundant on Earth and is found in sea water as well as most rocks. Naturally occurring uranium is found in two different isotopes : uranium-238 (U-238), accounting for 99.3% and uranium-235 (U-235) accounting for about 0.7%. U-238 has 146 neutrons and U-235 has 143 neutrons. Different isotopes have different behaviors. For instance, U-235

8140-534: The energy-intensive stages of the nuclear fuel chain are considered, from uranium mining to nuclear decommissioning , nuclear power is not a low-carbon electricity source despite the possibility of refinement and long-term storage being powered by a nuclear facility. Those countries that do not contain uranium mines cannot achieve energy independence through existing nuclear power technologies. Actual construction costs often exceed estimates, and spent fuel management costs are difficult to define. On 1 August 2020,

8250-402: The environment and raising the possibility of nuclear proliferation." Nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gases during operation. Older nuclear power plants, like ones using second-generation reactors , produce approximately the same amount of carbon dioxide during the whole life cycle of nuclear power plants for an average of about 11g/kWh, as much power generated by wind , which

8360-775: The environment, and that costs do not justify benefits. Threats include health risks and environmental damage from uranium mining , processing and transport, the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation or sabotage, and the problem of radioactive nuclear waste . Another environmental issue is discharge of hot water into the sea. The hot water modifies the environmental conditions for marine flora and fauna. They also contend that reactors themselves are enormously complex machines where many things can and do go wrong, and there have been many serious nuclear accidents . Critics do not believe that these risks can be reduced through new technology , despite rapid advancements in containment procedures and storage methods. Opponents argue that when all

8470-458: The event of a nuclear disaster would be impossible. According to S P Udayakumar, of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy , "the nuclear plant is unsafe". However, in 2012, the chief of India's nuclear energy programme, Dr Srikumar Banerjee , called the plant "one of the safest" in the world. In December 2012, The Hindu reported that hundreds of villagers in the region were largely ignorant of

8580-513: The expected growth of nuclear power from 2005 to 2055, at least four serious nuclear accidents would be expected in that period. The MIT study does not take into account improvements in safety since 1970. Nuclear power works under an insurance framework that limits or structures accident liabilities in accordance with the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy ,

8690-495: The files. Once the encryption is completed, the filename has "Wincry" appended, which is the root of the Wannacry name. Wincry was the base of the encryption, but two additional exploits, EternalBlue and DoublePulsar , were used by the malware to make it a cryptoworm. EternalBlue automatically spreads the virus through networks, while DoublePulsar triggered it to activate on a victim's computer. In other words, EternalBlue got

8800-545: The grid three months later. It started commercial operation from 31 December 2014. The second unit achieved criticality on 10 July 2016 and was connected to the grid in August. Commercial operation started on 15 October 2016. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) board members have approved signing of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for sourcing electricity from

8910-503: The infected link to your computer, and DoublePulsar clicked it for you. Security researcher Marcus Hutchins brought the attack to an end when he received a copy of the virus from a friend at a security research company and discovered a kill switch hardcoded into the virus. The malware included a periodic check to see if a specific domain name was registered, and would only proceed with encryption if that domain name did not exist. Hutchins identified this check, then promptly registered

9020-485: The need to spend more on redundant back up safety equipment. According to the World Nuclear Association , as of March 2020: The Russian state nuclear company Rosatom is the largest player in international nuclear power market, building nuclear plants around the world. Whereas Russian oil and gas were subject to international sanctions after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rosatom

9130-473: The now decommissioned German Biblis Nuclear Power Plant was designed to modulate its output 15% per minute between 40% and 100% of its nominal power. Russia has led in the practical development of floating nuclear power stations , which can be transported to the desired location and occasionally relocated or moved for easier decommissioning. In 2022, the United States Department of Energy funded

9240-635: The only one that has been confirmed was the Anglo-Swedish-owned AstraZeneca . According to a report by Reuters, a wide range of employees were targeted, including many involved in COVID-19 vaccine research. It is unknown what the Lazarus Group's goal was in these attacks, but the likely possibilities include: AstraZeneca has not commented on the incident and experts do not believe any sensitive data has been compromised as of yet. In January 2021, Google and Microsoft both publicly reported on

9350-467: The plant since its proposal in 1979. The proposal however, was halted because of the protests. It was brought back in 2000, and construction started under the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee . In 2011, thousands from the vicinity of the plant protested against it, fearing a nuclear disaster, in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster According to the protesters, evacuation of people in

9460-450: The power plant was instigated by churches and funded by foreign sources. The protestors dismissed the allegation of foreign funding, but said that seeking support from church was "natural" as many protestors were Christian localities living in the vicinity of the Reactor. Former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India Srinivasan said, "The Fukushima plant was built on a beach-front, but

9570-526: The project "a non-starter". However, the project was revived on 21 June 1998. Construction began on 31 March 2002, with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) predicting that the first unit would be operational in March 2007, instead of the original target of December 2007. A small port became operational in Kudankulam on 14 January 2004. This port was established to receive barges carrying over-sized light water reactor equipment from ships anchored at

9680-474: The prospect that all spent nuclear fuel could potentially be recycled by using future reactors, generation IV reactors are being designed to completely close the nuclear fuel cycle . However, up to now, there has not been any actual bulk recycling of waste from a NPP, and on-site temporary storage is still being used at almost all plant sites due to construction problems for deep geological repositories . Only Finland has stable repository plans, therefore from

9790-517: The protests, in violation of foreign exchange regulations. Supporters of the power plant in Idinthakarai village have been targeted by opponents using improvised explosive devices . The Church of South India and the National Council of Churches opposed the power plant and supported the protests against it. Supporters of the power plant and the government have alleged that the protest against

9900-528: The ransom: only $ 160,000 was collected, leading many to believe that the hackers weren't after the money. The easy kill switch and lack of revenue led many to believe that the attack was state-sponsored; the motive was not financial compensation, but just to cause chaos. After the attack security experts traced the DoublePulsar exploit back to the United States NSA where the exploit had been developed as

10010-420: The reactor core and transports it to another area of the station, where the thermal energy can be harnessed to produce electricity or to do other useful work. Typically the hot coolant is used as a heat source for a boiler, and the pressurized steam from that drives one or more steam turbine driven electrical generators . In the event of an emergency, safety valves can be used to prevent pipes from bursting or

10120-435: The reactor core is surrounded by a protective shield. This containment absorbs radiation and prevents radioactive material from being released into the environment. In addition, many reactors are equipped with a dome of concrete to protect the reactor against both internal casualties and external impacts. The purpose of the steam turbine is to convert the heat contained in steam into mechanical energy. The engine house with

10230-466: The reactor from exploding. The valves are designed so that they can derive all of the supplied flow rates with little increase in pressure. In the case of the BWR , the steam is directed into the suppression chamber and condenses there. The chambers on a heat exchanger are connected to the intermediate cooling circuit. The main condenser is a large cross-flow shell and tube heat exchanger that takes wet vapor,

10340-436: The relevant domain at 3:03 pm UTC. The malware immediately stopped propagating itself and infecting new machines. This was very interesting, and is a clue as to who created the virus. Usually stopping malware takes months of back and forth fighting between the hackers and security experts, so this easy win was unexpected. Another very interesting and unusual aspect of the attack was that the files were not recoverable after paying

10450-534: The risks and benefits of the plant. A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in 2011 with the Supreme Court asking for nuclear power development to be delayed until safety concerns were independently assessed. In May 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the plant, stating that the nuclear power plant was in the larger public interest. In March 2012, nearly 200 anti-nuclear protesters were detained for

10560-540: The risks of future uncertainties. To date all operating nuclear power stations were developed by state-owned or regulated utilities where many of the risks associated with construction costs, operating performance, fuel price, and other factors were borne by consumers rather than suppliers. Many countries have now liberalized the electricity market where these risks and the risk of cheaper competitors emerging before capital costs are recovered, are borne by station suppliers and operators rather than consumers, which leads to

10670-432: The security research community. The hackers would then target specific security researchers by contacting them directly with an offer to collaborate on research, with the goal of getting the victim to download a file containing malware, or to visit a blog post on a website controlled by the hackers. Some victims who visited the blog post reported that their computers were compromised despite using fully patched versions of

10780-476: The steam generators—in the case of a pressurized water reactor — or directly into the reactor, for boiling water reactors . Continuous power supply to the plant is critical to ensure safe operation. Most nuclear stations require at least two distinct sources of offsite power for redundancy. These are usually provided by multiple transformers that are sufficiently separated and can receive power from multiple transmission lines. In addition, in some nuclear stations,

10890-423: The steam turbine is usually structurally separated from the main reactor building. It is aligned so as to prevent debris from the destruction of a turbine in operation from flying towards the reactor. In the case of a pressurized water reactor, the steam turbine is separated from the nuclear system. To detect a leak in the steam generator and thus the passage of radioactive water at an early stage, an activity meter

11000-400: The supplier and operator for additional liability insurance the construction cost of units 3 & 4 amounted to twice the cost of units 1 & 2 and was later revised to be ₹ 39,849 crore (US$ 5.38 billion). A budget of ₹ 49,621 crore (US$ 6.7 billion) has been approved for construction of Units 5 & 6. An intergovernmental agreement (IGA) on the project was signed on 20 November 1988 by

11110-478: The total capacity of the power plant to 6,800 MW (6.8 GW). The ground-breaking ceremony for construction of third and fourth units was performed on 17 February 2016 and AERB authorised the first pour of concrete on 19 June 2017. Construction of the third and fourth units started on 29 June 2017. AERB granted excavation permit for Unit 5 and 6 in 14 November 2018 and concerete pour begun in 2020. Construction of units 5 and 6 commenced on 29 June 2021. Unit 5

11220-477: The turbine generator can power the station's loads while the station is online, without requiring external power. This is achieved via station service transformers which tap power from the generator output before they reach the step-up transformer. Nuclear power plants generate approximately 10% of global electricity, sourced from around 440 reactors worldwide. They are recognized as a significant provider of low-carbon electricity , accounting for about one-quarter of

11330-515: The vulnerability had not resolved the issue by the time May 12 rolled around, leading to the astonishing effectiveness of the attack. The US Department of Justice and British authorities later attributed the WannaCry attack on the North Korean hacking gang, the Lazarus group. In 2018, Recorded Future issued a report linking the Lazarus Group to attacks on cryptocurrency Bitcoin and Monero users mostly in South Korea. These attacks were reported to be technically similar to previous attacks using

11440-413: The water source at a warmer temperature or returns to a cooling tower where it either cools for more uses or evaporates into water vapor that rises out the top of the tower. The water level in the steam generator and the nuclear reactor is controlled using the feedwater system. The feedwater pump has the task of taking the water from the condensate system, increasing the pressure and forcing it into either

11550-455: The world's supply in this category. As of 2020, nuclear power stood as the second-largest source of low-carbon energy, making up 26% of the total. Nuclear power facilities are active in 32 countries or regions, and their influence extends beyond these nations through regional transmission grids, especially in Europe. In 2022, nuclear power plants generated 2545 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity,

11660-495: Was a theft that took place in February 2016. Thirty-five fraudulent instructions were issued by security hackers via the SWIFT network to illegally transfer close to US$ 1 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account belonging to Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh. Five of the thirty-five fraudulent instructions were successful in transferring US$ 101 million, with US$ 20 million traced to Sri Lanka and US$ 81 million to

11770-477: Was not targeted by sanctions. However, some countries, especially in Europe, scaled back or cancelled planned nuclear power plants that were to be built by Rosatom. Modern nuclear reactor designs have had numerous safety improvements since the first-generation nuclear reactors. A nuclear power plant cannot explode like a nuclear weapon because the fuel for uranium reactors is not enriched enough, and nuclear weapons require precision explosives to force fuel into

11880-666: Was perpetrated by the Lazarus Group. On 14 April 2022, the US Treasury 's OFAC placed Lazarus on the SDN List under North Korea Sanctions Regulations section 510.214. According to Indian media reports, a local cryptocurrency exchange named WazirX was hacked by the group and $ 234.9 million worth of crypto assets have been stolen. North Korean hackers are sent vocationally to Shenyang , China for special training. They are trained to deploy malware of all types onto computers, computer networks, and servers. Education domestically includes

11990-529: Was responsible for over $ 300 million in losses across crypto hacking incidents in 2023. The amount represents 17.6% of the year's total losses. In June 2023 over $ 100 million in cryptocurrency was stolen from users of the Atomic Wallet service, and this was later confirmed by the FBI. In September 2023 the FBI confirmed that a $ 41 million theft of cryptocurrency from Stake.com, an online casino and betting platform,

12100-565: Was the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania , United States, which was connected to the grid on December 18, 1957. The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in conventional thermal power stations. The fission in a nuclear reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water or gas, or even liquid metal, depending on the type of reactor. The reactor coolant then goes to

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