Mining Bitcoin at a nuclear power station in Ukraine

[ene1980]

~snip
They really didn't think that they would be caught because they were employees at the Nuclear reactor and it seems that even most if not all of the security detail at the facility were involved in it .

If you are able to bring equipment inside a nuclear power station then you can say that there was no security involved, i have not visited any nuclear power plant but i can imagine the security level in this part of the world, you cannot go in or out of your office without being frisked and going through security measure and they were able to get those mining machines inside a nuclear plant says it all.

I really hope they were able to get a lot of money from this endeavour before they were caught because they will be jailed for a long time.

If someone is doing anything illegal to make money, i wish all their profits are confiscated if they made any and be sentenced for their actions according to their law.

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[Vishnu.Reang]

Recently I heard another incident from China, where an individual was sentenced to a lengthy prison term, for stealing electricity so that he could mine Bitcoins. I have no sympathy for such people. They tarnish the reputation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general and on top of that they destroy their future as well. Theft, in any form is a criminal offense.

[Artemis3]

I found an article about this case on a local news portal, but now I see that there's information about it in English as well. Some people were using a Nuclear power station to mine Bitcoin in Ukraine. It is likely that the guarding personnel was also involved in the process. The investigation is not over yet. A link to read more: https://bitnewsbot.com/atomic-wealth-cryptocurrency-mining-operation-foiled-at-ukrainian-nuclear-plant-report/.
It's nice that people used clean energy to mine Bitcoin, I guess, but also sad that people keep trying to profit by cheating and using the resources that don't belong to them.

You are incorrect, Nuclear is everything BUT clean, it is especially ironic given that Ukraine is THE country of the Chernobyl disaster...

That said, among the last miners(*), should be power plant operators/owners. They would be wise to have a mining facility, as often there is excess in generation due to pattern usage fluctuations. Paraguay is doing precisely that with their Hydro power plant, State owned. That is an example of "clean", and they have so much excess they sell it to their neighbors, but there is still excess, so this is yet another means of selling it.

As for cheating, you probably wouldn't understand both cultural and system reasons. It was probably all sitting there being wasted and bureaucracy unwilling to even talk about it... Unless you "cheat" inside there as well, and for that you have to have money to "buy" your way. Sometimes there is even organized crime into the mix (aka. mafia).

Calling nuclear clean is disrespectful for the places where (mineral) mining occurs to extract the Uranium, AND the wasted product after their end of life (actually half life :3) which is radioactive and nobody wants, at least nobody without a fast breeder reactor which "could" burn it. And what about the fun of transporting both fresh and wasted fuel? What, its not like accidents don't ever happen...

* The time is coming where mining will become unprofitable at any price, it might take a few years but rest assured its coming closer and closer.

[hatshepsut93]

You are incorrect, Nuclear is everything BUT clean, it is especially ironic given that Ukraine is THE country of the Chernobyl disaster...

Chernobyl was caused by human errors and corruption, something that is not related to the technology itself. When everything is done properly nuclear is very clean. In some aspects nuclear is much better than renewables, because it's not affected by weather and doesn't require energy storage. Maybe it will be replaced in the future fully, but it still can serve for transitioning to 100% renewable energy.

It's nice that people used clean energy to mine Bitcoin, I guess, but also sad that people keep trying to profit by cheating and using the resources that don't belong to them.

That man could have put millions of lives in danger if he caused damage to the plant, or at least cause millions of dollars worth of damages. We shouldn't cheer criminals just because they are using Bitcoin.

[Sharon121212]

This is a criminal offense using reserved energy without permission to mine bitcoin.
Bitcoin mining needs high quality of power supply so people can go the extra mile to do so.
In terms of the environment with the recent amazon fire out break this calls for more attention to any environment hazard and a cleaner way to mine bitcoin would be another breakthrough

[1Referee]

Recently I heard another incident from China, where an individual was sentenced to a lengthy prison term, for stealing electricity so that he could mine Bitcoins. I have no sympathy for such people. They tarnish the reputation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general and on top of that they destroy their future as well. Theft, in any form is a criminal offense.

I don't think that fits in the category of tarnishing Bitcoin's reputation. If governments refer to Bitcoin as being the main cause, then it's just them using that as a smoke screen to hide their own dislike towards Bitcoin. Governments have never really come forward and say we don't like this or that technology, they always try to come up with an excuse to ban it.

A few local cases of electricity theft to mine Bitcoin or any other crypto isn't enough to cause harm. If governments would fuss over that then they would have played the 'Bitcoin is an environmental disaster' card already and banned the practice of mining and Bitcoin right away.

[dkbit98]

This is a criminal offense using reserved energy without permission to mine bitcoin.
Bitcoin mining needs high quality of power supply so people can go the extra mile to do so.
In terms of the environment with the recent amazon fire out break this calls for more attention to any environment hazard and a cleaner way to mine bitcoin would be another breakthrough

This thing is not specific only for Ukraine, but it can be noticed in all ex-communist countries from the whole world,
asian as well as east-european and south-americans are 'using' old state factories to mine Bitcoin, without need to pay electricity bills.
Now... after watching TV show Chernobyl, I think messing with this to mine Bitcoin is crazy, but I am not surprised at all ...

[Ucy]

I wonder how much energy they stole from the nuclear power station for the mining?
With this, I see a situation where a coin attacker steals huge amounts of power and use it to attack a cryptocurrency... with zero detection by the power company and with no financial cost to him. He could escape detection for a long time if the power plant isn't advanced enough.

[dkbit98]

This is not first time it has been done also.
One year ago guys in Russian city of Sarov also did the same thing.
source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/10/russians-arrested-for-mining-bitcoin-at-nuclear-facility

[bitcon]

~snip
They really didn't think that they would be caught because they were employees at the Nuclear reactor and it seems that even most if not all of the security detail at the facility were involved in it .

If you are able to bring equipment inside a nuclear power station then you can say that there was no security involved, i have not visited any nuclear power plant but i can imagine the security level in this part of the world, you cannot go in or out of your office without being frisked and going through security measure and they were able to get those mining machines inside a nuclear plant says it all.

I really hope they were able to get a lot of money from this endeavour before they were caught because they will be jailed for a long time.

If someone is doing anything illegal to make money, i wish all their profits are confiscated if they made any and be sentenced for their actions according to their law.

Yes, it happened. I have read this breaking news and it shocked me - what if something really BAD would happen through these illegal activities? Unauthorized placement of computer equipment on the territory of the nuclear power plant led to the fact that information about the physical protection of the station, which is state secrets, leaked to the network.

What is awful, the employees of the National Guard of Ukraine guarding the station were involved in mining.

[Lucius]

If it's the surplus energy, it's not as bad, but I think it's a bit of an overkill using such a dangerous energy source to power BTC mining.

Energy is energy, and if you have surplus why not use it for something useful, and here we are actually talking about investing in Bitcoin network. Belarus president see the possibility of extra earnings, he will use that surplus to mine Bitcoin. I do not think this is in any way bad for Bitcoin, but maybe someone will say again how Bitcoin is using too much energy, so much so that now it has to use nuclear power plants.

Chernobyl was caused by human errors and corruption, something that is not related to the technology itself. When everything is done properly nuclear is very clean. In some aspects nuclear is much better than renewables, because it's not affected by weather and doesn't require energy storage. Maybe it will be replaced in the future fully, but it still can serve for transitioning to 100% renewable energy.

Really funny that you consider nuclear energy better in some aspects from other sources, but what about nuclear waste which is created as a by-product of the operation of nuclear reactors? All that waste should end up somewhere, and in most cases it ends in third world countries where pollute land and water for thousands of years. Hundreds of nuclear reactors are potential bombs, and there is no more dangerous way of generating electricity then nuclear.

Humans are susceptible to errors, Chernobyl will happen again it is only a matter of time - Germany, France, Russia or USA, maybe Ukraine again...

[drumamat]

If it's the surplus energy, it's not as bad, but I think it's a bit of an overkill using such a dangerous energy source to power BTC mining.

Energy is energy, and if you have surplus why not use it for something useful, and here we are actually talking about investing in Bitcoin network. Belarus president see the possibility of extra earnings, he will use that surplus to mine Bitcoin. I do not think this is in any way bad for Bitcoin, but maybe someone will say again how Bitcoin is using too much energy, so much so that now it has to use nuclear power plants.

Chernobyl was caused by human errors and corruption, something that is not related to the technology itself. When everything is done properly nuclear is very clean. In some aspects nuclear is much better than renewables, because it's not affected by weather and doesn't require energy storage. Maybe it will be replaced in the future fully, but it still can serve for transitioning to 100% renewable energy.

Really funny that you consider nuclear energy better in some aspects from other sources, but what about nuclear waste which is created as a by-product of the operation of nuclear reactors? All that waste should end up somewhere, and in most cases it ends in third world countries where pollute land and water for thousands of years. Hundreds of nuclear reactors are potential bombs, and there is no more dangerous way of generating electricity then nuclear.

Humans are susceptible to errors, Chernobyl will happen again it is only a matter of time - Germany, France, Russia or USA, maybe Ukraine again...

I in any case do not justify those guys who stole electricity,but I would like to support the author of the message to which I respond in the context that really there is an overabundance of electricity generated at nuclear power plants and it needs to be put somewhere.In this case, mining seems quite adequate.The second side of the issue is the security not only of Ukraine but of the whole planet.How and who allowed to engage in some kind of manipulation of electricity at the nuclear power plant?It's just creepy to realize....

[DdmrDdmr]

The equipment that was confiscated didn’t really seem that great:

In a raid conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on 10 July, six Radeon RX 470 video cards, four power supplies, three switches, a hard drive, a USB, a motherboard and additional equipment were found in Office No.104 which is located in an administrative wing separate from the main buildings.

See: https://www.hackread.com/arrest-for-crypto-mining-ukraine-nuclear-plant/

The real concern is that of opening a backdoor into the facility that could lead, if exploited, to who knows what. A simple down payment of cash by some crime related thugs could lead to an employee secretly installing some backdoor enabler at some point, and one would expect protocols at nuclear powerstations to be pretty waterproof. It seems not.

[Artemis3]

You are incorrect, Nuclear is everything BUT clean, it is especially ironic given that Ukraine is THE country of the Chernobyl disaster...

Chernobyl was caused by human errors and corruption, something that is not related to the technology itself. When everything is done properly nuclear is very clean. In some aspects nuclear is much better than renewables, because it's not affected by weather and doesn't require energy storage. Maybe it will be replaced in the future fully, but it still can serve for transitioning to 100% renewable energy.

And Fukushima disaster was created by "nature" (also exacerbated by "human errors and corruption"), so what? You could make it look "clean" where the plant operates, but that says nothing at the uranium mining sites or the "used fuel" disposal sites, nor the chance of a transport disaster of the radioactive materials, or even storage at the plant itself.

Nuclear is not clean. Why don't you go live next to the plant, like the Pripyat town made for that purpose? Or the Fukushima area? I could even mention Three Miles...

Renewable have plenty of sources, when you combine them you seldom need "storing", and many options are continuous "not affected by weather" such as Iceland Geothermal (where "green" crypto mining DOES exist). You can harness wind, sun, waves, tides, rivers, etc with the money poured into Nuclear plant building, fuel extraction, transportation and disposal which IS NOT cheap. Or would you keep this radioactive barrel for me in your basement?

If you are going do defend nuclear, assume the truth of the (HIGH) risk/pollution involved, in its entire chain, not by simply looking at the plant and say its clean because no black smoke comes out... (because radiation is conveniently unseen and unfelt, until its too late that is).

[kryptqnick]

It's nice that people used clean energy to mine Bitcoin, I guess, but also sad that people keep trying to profit by cheating and using the resources that don't belong to them.

What part of stealing resources is nice? it's not sad man, just pathetic. They only try to gain money by it nothing else. If they really want to use clean energy they can go with wind power or solar power. Create it by themselves and not stealing from the government.

Edit: Curious by clean energy mining that you say I found this article Surprise! Majority of BTC Energy Sourced from Hydro / Wind / Solar

No-no-no, I did not approve of the stealing part. I said it was nice that people used clean energy for mining (so they're being eco-friendly, reducing the carbon footprint and stuff), whereas I am definitely against using the state's resources for personal profits.

I found an article about this case on a local news portal, but now I see that there's information about it in English as well. Some people were using a Nuclear power station to mine Bitcoin in Ukraine. It is likely that the guarding personnel was also involved in the process. The investigation is not over yet. A link to read more: https://bitnewsbot.com/atomic-wealth-cryptocurrency-mining-operation-foiled-at-ukrainian-nuclear-plant-report/.
It's nice that people used clean energy to mine Bitcoin, I guess, but also sad that people keep trying to profit by cheating and using the resources that don't belong to them.

First, nuclear energy is not clean energy. It may have no carbon emission but it is regularly releasing radiation which is toxic. The possible risks to human health and life if a radiation leak occurs from nuclear power plants are very deadly.

This is not the first time I read of an illegally concealed crypto mining. I guess this is brought by the very high cost of crypto mining especially Bitcoin. Some are attracted to it but do not have the means, prompting them to use resources that are not theirs. Let's see how the investigation ends.  

As for everyone who wrote about nuclear energy not being clean:
It's a matter of debate whether the nuclear option is good or bad for the environment, but it seems to be humanity's best shot, something to look at more closely and develop. Because not everything can run on solar or wind energy, some locations require something else. Here's a video about it that I find interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poPLSgbSO6k.

The equipment that was confiscated didn’t really seem that great:

In a raid conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on 10 July, six Radeon RX 470 video cards, four power supplies, three switches, a hard drive, a USB, a motherboard and additional equipment were found in Office No.104 which is located in an administrative wing separate from the main buildings.

See: https://www.hackread.com/arrest-for-crypto-mining-ukraine-nuclear-plant/

The real concern is that of opening a backdoor into the facility that could lead, if exploited, to who knows what. A simple down payment of cash by some crime related thugs could lead to an employee secretly installing some backdoor enabler at some point, and one would expect protocols at nuclear powerstations to be pretty waterproof. It seems not.

Yes, the security risks are very high. It's somewhat good they were just mining Bitcoin, because if they managed to put all of this equipment to the facility, they could probably bring some means of causing a disastrous explosion as well.

[hatshepsut93]

Nuclear is not clean. Why don't you go live next to the plant, like the Pripyat town made for that purpose? Or the Fukushima area? I could even mention Three Miles...

If you are going do defend nuclear, assume the truth of the (HIGH) risk/pollution involved, in its entire chain, not by simply looking at the plant and say its clean because no black smoke comes out... (because radiation is conveniently unseen and unfelt, until its too late that is).

My family member died as the result of exposure to Chernobyl's radiation, so you don't need to tell me how dangerous it is. I'm still going to say that nuclear energy is much cleaner than fossil fuels that destroy environment without any way to fix it, and renewables are not mature enough at this moment to replace fossil energy, so nuclear is one of the best options right now.

[Herbert2020]

Recently I heard another incident from China, where an individual was sentenced to a lengthy prison term, for stealing electricity so that he could mine Bitcoins. I have no sympathy for such people. They tarnish the reputation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general and on top of that they destroy their future as well. Theft, in any form is a criminal offense.

I don't think that fits in the category of tarnishing Bitcoin's reputation. If governments refer to Bitcoin as being the main cause, then it's just them using that as a smoke screen to hide their own dislike towards Bitcoin. Governments have never really come forward and say we don't like this or that technology, they always try to come up with an excuse to ban it.

A few local cases of electricity theft to mine Bitcoin or any other crypto isn't enough to cause harm. If governments would fuss over that then they would have played the 'Bitcoin is an environmental disaster' card already and banned the practice of mining and Bitcoin right away.

it usually is not the government that does this though. it is just the news agencies who want to stir some shit up by writing a dramatic article. so by including the term "bitcoin" in the title and reporting the news is a way that it was bitcoin centered and not at all focusing on the actual issue that was electricity theft which is a common thing, they turn a normal incident into a hot news!

[rdluffy]

This is not a unique case, there are a lot of places out there used to mining BTC illegally
People always find ways to cheat and gain money, this is not only because BTC

[barbara44]

I am sure employees of the power plant are also involved. I have a question here are these facilities not in the control of government-run forces and the government? I mean how were these guys able to set up a mining rig there? This is a serious issue and I am sure these guys will go behind bars for a long time.

Such a situation demonstrates how vulnerable are Nuclear power plants are in Ukraine. Any terrorist can get access to them if such kind of security is provided there. 

There is no doubt about that, there would surely be an insider in the plat station that is involve, and if there is a worker in there, he only saw that as an opportunity to use the system to mine and I dint know if I should classify that as stealing or not even though it sounds illegal to everyone.

If he is using the plant to mine, it will simply be only 1 or two machines and I doubt if he would have packed the whole world to come and mine there, at least, it is a way to also reduce the pressure on electricity, if it is possible , then they need to also make it possible for people who can afford to use it to mine to do so if  they can make it legal, but now that the person mind without permission, of course he would surely go behind bar because it was not with permission.