  We perform direct numerical simulations of an externally driven
two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic system over extended periods of time to
simulate the dynamics of a transverse section of a solar coronal loop. A
stationary and large-scale magnetic forcing was imposed, to model the
photospheric motions at the magnetic loop footpoints. A turbulent stationary
regime is reached, which corresponds to energy dissipation rates consistent
with the heating requirements of coronal loops. The temporal behavior of
quantities such as the energy dissipation rate show clear indications of
intermittency, which are exclusively due to the strong nonlinearity of the
system. We tentatively associate these impulsive events of magnetic energy
dissipation to the so-called nanoflares. A statistical analysis of these events
yields a power law distribution as a function of their energies with a negative
slope of 1.5, which is consistent with those obtained for flare energy
distributions reported from X-ray observations.
