UK Nuclear Site: Is There More To The Guardian's Claims Of A Cyber Threat To Sellafield?

The Sellafield nuclear site - a cornerstone of the UK's nuclear fuel reprocessing and waste storage - found itself once again the subject of controversy (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) earlier this month. Among complaints of other safety violations and risks (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre), The Guardian's ongoing investigation paints a picture of a decade-long cyber siege (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre), allegedly orchestrated by Russian and Chinese threat actors, on top of other claims of substandard safety practices. This revelation, if substantiated, doesn't just raise alarms about Sellafield's digital defenses, but also echoes broader concerns about the security of critical infrastructure amid rising geopolitical tensions.

A note going forward in this article: many of these sources are found in various works by The Guardian and several Irish publications, as part of their ongoing investigation, though it's my hope that I provide some extra context to some of the exhibits. I'm mentioning this, because I feel it would be wrong to present the documents as if I dug them out myself. I'll highlight the parts that were my own work.