Posted on May 1, 2022
Ukraine Says Russian Missiles Over Nuclear Power Plants Risk Disaster
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Nuclear watchdogs are expressing alarm over safety conditions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since early March after a fight that led to a fire near one of the plant’s reactors. It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and located in the largest city in southeastern Ukraine still under Ukrainian control. The Ukrainian government accused Russia of launching two missiles that flew over the plant earlier this week, and says Russian missiles have also flown near two other nuclear power plants in the country. Ukrainian energy expert Olexi Pasyuk, deputy director of the group Ecoaction, notes that Russian forces likely already disturbed radioactive materials at the Chernobyl zone, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. “Zaporizhzhia, where you have reactors in operation and they continue to work now, is a far more dangerous situation,” says Pasyuk.
Ukraine Says Russian Missiles Over Nuclear Power Plants Risk Disaster
Posted from democracynow.org
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Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Refueling Ukraine’s reactors could also be challenging. Nuclear plants never keep new fuel onsite; they need to plan a brief shutdown for when the fuel arrives. Ukraine gets most of its nuclear fuel from Russia, but over the past few years, the country also made agreements to acquire fuel from Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric, making it less dependent on Russian supplies.
While it’s been 36 years since the Chernobyl disaster, the Russian seizure of the defunct facility still poses unique challenges and risks, Lyman says. The remains of the damaged reactor lie buried under a concrete “sarcophagus,” which was built in the aftermath of the disaster and is now surrounded by the New Safe Containment facility, built in 2016. Engineers designed the structure to withstand earthquakes, tornadoes, and high-speed winds. Chernobyl’s three other reactors kept operating for years; the last one shut down in 2000. Some of those reactors’ spent nuclear fuel is stored in swimming-pool-like wet storage ponds, while some of it has been transferred to dry casks, large steel or concrete cylinders that are designed to last for years.
According to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, on Friday, new readings from the automated radiation monitoring system in the Chernobyl area detected higher gamma ray radiation measurements than normal, up to 9.46 microsieverts per hour. The gamma rays could be the emissions from radioactive materials, Rosner says. They may have been caused by heavy military vehicles stirring up contaminated soil, according to the IAEA statement released Friday. Still, agency officials wrote in their statement, the radiation levels “are low and remain within the operational range measured in the Exclusion Zone since it was established, and therefore do not pose any danger to the public.” In contrast, the SNRI statement says that “control levels of gamma radiation dose rate in the Exclusion zone were exceeded.”
Ukraine faces plenty of nuclear risks even if Russia never deploys nuclear weapons, as Vladimir Putin has threatened. “What’s going on horrifies me,” Rosner says. “I’m not so worried about the reactors; I worry about the people, the Ukrainians.”
..."Refueling Ukraine’s reactors could also be challenging. Nuclear plants never keep new fuel onsite; they need to plan a brief shutdown for when the fuel arrives. Ukraine gets most of its nuclear fuel from Russia, but over the past few years, the country also made agreements to acquire fuel from Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric, making it less dependent on Russian supplies.
While it’s been 36 years since the Chernobyl disaster, the Russian seizure of the defunct facility still poses unique challenges and risks, Lyman says. The remains of the damaged reactor lie buried under a concrete “sarcophagus,” which was built in the aftermath of the disaster and is now surrounded by the New Safe Containment facility, built in 2016. Engineers designed the structure to withstand earthquakes, tornadoes, and high-speed winds. Chernobyl’s three other reactors kept operating for years; the last one shut down in 2000. Some of those reactors’ spent nuclear fuel is stored in swimming-pool-like wet storage ponds, while some of it has been transferred to dry casks, large steel or concrete cylinders that are designed to last for years.
According to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, on Friday, new readings from the automated radiation monitoring system in the Chernobyl area detected higher gamma ray radiation measurements than normal, up to 9.46 microsieverts per hour. The gamma rays could be the emissions from radioactive materials, Rosner says. They may have been caused by heavy military vehicles stirring up contaminated soil, according to the IAEA statement released Friday. Still, agency officials wrote in their statement, the radiation levels “are low and remain within the operational range measured in the Exclusion Zone since it was established, and therefore do not pose any danger to the public.” In contrast, the SNRI statement says that “control levels of gamma radiation dose rate in the Exclusion zone were exceeded.”
Ukraine faces plenty of nuclear risks even if Russia never deploys nuclear weapons, as Vladimir Putin has threatened. “What’s going on horrifies me,” Rosner says. “I’m not so worried about the reactors; I worry about the people, the Ukrainians.”
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