A group claiming an association to the hacking collective Anonymous says it plans to "expose" the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in the coming weeks.
There are Twitter and Youtube accounts associated with the group, which claims to be doing a "tactical investigation" on the plant, located about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix.
"We have discovered that this particular nuclear generating station, has violated international human rights," the video says. "Needless to say we have also discovered, in addition, that an employee from PVNGS has been in co-operation with the Irani government, in terms, under illegal and covert means."
That might be a reference to a case in which an engineer in the plant was arrested in 2007 after taking a computer to Iran that had software related to the plant.
Mohammad Reza Alavi, a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran, ended up being sentenced to 15 months in prison in the case. According to news accounts from the time, the software was for training, and contained things like schematics of the plant, but plant officials said it wasn't a security threat. Prosecutors reportedly alleged that Alavi may have wanted to use the software to get a job at an Iranian nuclear program, but Alavi claimed he had no ill intent, and only showed the software to his family.
MCSO spokesman Chris Hegstrom tells New Times that the Sheriff's Office is aware of the video, and MCSO and federal authorities are investigating it.
According to one of the tweets from the group, posted last week, "We will have all data necessary to expose PV in 2 to 5 weeks time."
Another tweet states, "The data you need to take action is in the net. Yet, it's scattered. Decentralized if you will. We are here to gather it, and center it."
Got a tip? Send it to: Matthew Hendley.
Follow Valley Fever on Twitter at @ValleyFeverPHX.
Follow Matthew Hendley at @MatthewHendley.
