By excluding nuclear plants from eight reliability standards that it made final in January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission inadvertently opened a gap in the cybersecurity of the power grid, a gap that it has begun to address. Disclosure of the problem came last week from the staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as the agencies met in another of the public sessions they have established to air common concerns. By excluding nuclear plants, FERC has essentially left to the discretion of certain generators whether, and how, to take steps to protect the transmission lines, switchyards and other support systems within the nuclear facilities from cyber attacks. "This is an area where it's very important for the two agencies to work together," Chairman Joseph Kelliher said at the meeting. "The nature of the threat is very different from what FERC is accustomed to."
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