Tag Archives: Chernobyl

Any incident at Ukraine nuclear plant ‘would be deliberate act by Russia’

Ukrainian nuclear experts say an accident at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant would be “almost impossible”

By Kateryna Farbar. Published 6-28-2023 by openDemocracy

The IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) arrives at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant i September 2022. Photo: IAEA Imagebank/flickr/CC

An accident at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant would be “almost impossible” and any damage would be a deliberate act by Russian forces, Ukrainian nuclear personnel have told openDemocracy.

Russia has occupied the plant, in the city of Enerhodar, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Its forces are currently preparing to damage the occupied plant, Ukrainian officials claim, in order to stop Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the country’s southeast.

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Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Relying on Diesel Generators After Shelling

If the generators run out of fuel, “they will stop, and after that there will be a disaster,” said a Ukrainian nuclear expert. “There will be a melting of the active core and a release of radioactivity from there.”

By Kenny Stancil  Published 10-8-2022 by Common Dreams

A worker at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in August 2022. Photo: Just Click’s With A Camera/flickr/CC

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine has been forced to switch to emergency diesel generators after overnight shelling disconnected the facility from the electric grid, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear operator and the United Nation’s atomic watchdog said Saturday.

If the generators run out of fuel, “they will stop, and after that there will be a disaster,” Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s public nuclear enterprise Energoatom, told BBC World News. “There will be a melting of the active core and a release of radioactivity from there. Continue reading

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Ukraine Officials Warn Chernobyl Radiation Levels ‘Exceeded’

Experts attribute the increased radiation levels to the Russian military’s current assault on Ukraine.

By Kenny Stancil  Published 2-25-2022 by Common Dreams

Chernobyl Reactor #4 and memorial. Photo: calflier001/Wikimedia Commons/CC

The Ukrainian government warned Friday that radiation near the Chernoybl nuclear power plant has “exceeded” control levels, a day after the Russian military took control of the area during its ongoing invasion, which has reached the capital of Kyiv.

The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine said that local experts attribute the increased gamma radiation dose rate to the “disturbance of the top layer of soil from [the] movement of a large number of radio heavy military machinery through the Exclusion zone and increase of air pollution.” Continue reading

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Chernobyl Radiation Surge ‘Cause for Concern,’ Say Scientists

One nuclear scientist said the situation is “like the embers in a barbecue pit.”

By Brett Wilkins, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 5-13-2021

The New Safe Confinement arch over what was once Reactor Four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine is the world’s largest mobile steel structure. (Photo: Clay Gilliland/Flickr/cc)

Scientists monitoring the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine are detecting increased fission reactions inside an inaccessible chamber built around the radioactive ruins of a reactor that suffered a catastrophic meltdown in 1986—and they aren’t sure why.

New Scientist reported this week that since 2016, researchers have detected a 40% surge in neutron emissions from a sealed room containing large amounts of corium, a highly radioactive and hardened lava-like material containing much of the uranium fuel from Reactor Four of the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, the site of history’s worst nuclear disaster. Continue reading

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‘An Insanely Bad Move’: Experts Sound Alarm as Trump’s Nuclear Safety Agency Weighs Rollback of Plant Inspections

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said one member of Congress, “needs to do more—not less—to ensure nuclear reactor safety.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-17-2019

Arkansas Nuclear One nuclear power plant near Russellville, AR. Photo: T-Town Photo Booth/flickr

After months of experts raising alarm over the nuclear power industry pressuring U.S. regulators to roll back safety policies, staffers at the federal agency that monitors reactors sparked concerns Tuesday with official recommendations that include scaling back required inspections to save money.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has spent months reviewing its enforcement policies—and, as part of that process, sought input from industry groups, as Common Dreams detailed in March. In response, the industry representatives requested shifting to more “self-assessments,” limiting public disclosures for “lower-level” problems at plants, and easing the “burden of radiation-protection and emergency-preparedness inspections.” Continue reading

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