Chernobyl's Radiation Spiked 20 Times Above Usual Levels as Russian Forces Arrive
https://www.sciencealert.com/chernobyl-r...y-movement
INTRO: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant and its surrounding area are showing increased radiation levels after heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the region, Ukrainian officials said Friday (Feb. 25)
Online data from the Chernobyl exclusion zone's automated radiation-monitoring system shows that gamma radiation has increased 20 times above usual levels at multiple observation points, which officials from the Ukrainian nuclear agency attributed to radioactive dust thrown up by the movement of heavy military equipment in the area.
The defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been under occupation by attacking Russian soldiers since Thursday (Feb. 24) after Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of the morning.
Workers at the facility, stationed there to monitor and maintain radiation levels within safe bounds, have been taken hostage by Russian troops, according to Anna Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military expert.
"The station staff is being held hostage. This threatens the security of not only Ukraine but also a significant part of Europe,"
Kovalenko wrote on Facebook... (
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EU Aims to Wean Off Fossil Fuels as Energy Prices Spike on Ukraine Invasion
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/eu-aims-to-...e-invasion
INTRO: The Russian attack on Ukraine has led to a spike in energy prices, with oil briefly surpassing $100 a barrel, the highest level since 2014, and Dutch and British gas prices rising 40 to 60 percent Thursday. Russia is the world’s second-largest exporter of oil and largest exporter of natural gas. As the war intensifies and sanctions loom, analysts fear disruptions to the supply of fossil fuels.
The European Union (EU), which is heavily dependent on the Kremlin for oil and gas, is aiming to break free of Russian imports, giving it greater latitude to impose sanctions on Moscow without roiling energy markets at home, The Washington Post reports. Russia supplies 40 percent of the EU’s natural gas.
In a bid to achieve energy independence, the EU is looking to speed the shift to renewable power... (
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International Space Station threatened in future by Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting US sanctions
https://theconversation.com/russian-inva...ion-177891
INTRO: New U.S. sanctions on Russia will encompass Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, according to a speech U.S. President Joe Biden gave on Feb. 24, 2022.
In response to these sanctions, the head of Roscosmos on the same day posted a tweet saying, among other things, “If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or Europe?”
The International Space Station has often stayed above the fray of geopolitics. That position is under threat.
Built and run by the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, the ISS has shown how countries can cooperate on major projects in space. The station has been continuously occupied for over 20 years and has hosted more than 250 people from 19 countries.
As a space policy expert, the ISS represents, to me, a high point of cooperation in space exploration. But for the current crew of two Russians, four Americans and one German, things may be getting worrisome as tensions rise between the U.S. and Russia.
Several agreements and systems are in place to make sure that the space station can function smoothly while being run by five different space agencies. As of Feb. 24, there were no announcements of unusual actions aboard the station despite the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. But the Russian government has brought the ISS into geopolitics before and is doing so again... (
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Feb 25, 2022 11:42 AM
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