Mar 3, 2022 07:46 AM
(This post was last modified: Mar 3, 2022 06:00 PM by C C.)
Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are at ‘unprecedented’ risk as fighting continues
https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/2/229580...wer-plants
INTRO: Nuclear experts are increasingly worried about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants as Russia’s invasion of the country continues. The conflict has the grim distinction of being the first time warfare has exploded in a region so heavily reliant on nuclear energy.
“The situation in Ukraine is unprecedented and I continue to be gravely concerned,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in an introductory statement to the agency’s Board of Governors meeting today and shared with the press. “I have called for restraint from all measures or actions that could jeopardize the security of nuclear and other radioactive material, and the safe operation of any nuclear facilities in Ukraine, because any such incident could have severe consequences, aggravating human suffering and causing environmental harm.”
Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors, which typically generate over half of the country’s power, have worrisome vulnerabilities in a warzone. Wayward explosions or a catastrophic failure of Ukraine’s power grid are the biggest concerns for now since the IAEA and experts whom The Verge spoke with remain skeptical that Russia would deliberately target nuclear power plants.
[...] There’s also the risk of a missile or other munitions breaking through the containment building or striking backup generators or cooling systems. Two waste disposal facilities for relatively-low risk radioactive materials were struck ... but there were no reports of radioactive release.
[...] Stressed-out staff poses its own risks to nuclear sites, experts say, because making a mistake on the job can be dangerous. That makes the wellbeing of staff “a humanitarian issue, but not only — it’s also a technical issue,” Grossi said at today’s press conference... (MORE - details)
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Ukrainians are fighting to prevent another Chernobyl
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ng/623878/
EXCERPT: . . . In taking over Chernobyl, Russia is implicitly threatening to cause all that pain all over again. The 15 active, aging nuclear reactors that are spread around Ukraine were not built to withstand an all-out military invasion. Some can survive airplane crashes, but probably not inadvertent strikes from missiles or artillery. Nor can they ward off a destabilizing cyberattack, or protect crucial staff members from being held hostage, as the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said the Russian army has done at Chernobyl. Some of those staff may decide to flee due to threats of violence. An invading military, in control of those reactors, could dial up the threat of nuclear terror to engage in a wider threat of nuclear blackmail.
Russian control of Ukraine’s functioning and decommissioned nuclear power plants would be, in the words of one analyst, like having “nuclear warfare without bombs” if these plants were to be tampered with. When the Russian military captured Chernobyl, Vladimir Putin seized the means by which to inflict nuclear damage through a new form of “dirty” power. Russia is now in a position to cause immediate disaster by reopening a toxic legacy that was meant to be sealed. It could also create uninhabitable zones all around Ukraine and force the country’s people back into inhumanely dangerous cleanup work... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/2/229580...wer-plants
INTRO: Nuclear experts are increasingly worried about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants as Russia’s invasion of the country continues. The conflict has the grim distinction of being the first time warfare has exploded in a region so heavily reliant on nuclear energy.
“The situation in Ukraine is unprecedented and I continue to be gravely concerned,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in an introductory statement to the agency’s Board of Governors meeting today and shared with the press. “I have called for restraint from all measures or actions that could jeopardize the security of nuclear and other radioactive material, and the safe operation of any nuclear facilities in Ukraine, because any such incident could have severe consequences, aggravating human suffering and causing environmental harm.”
Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors, which typically generate over half of the country’s power, have worrisome vulnerabilities in a warzone. Wayward explosions or a catastrophic failure of Ukraine’s power grid are the biggest concerns for now since the IAEA and experts whom The Verge spoke with remain skeptical that Russia would deliberately target nuclear power plants.
[...] There’s also the risk of a missile or other munitions breaking through the containment building or striking backup generators or cooling systems. Two waste disposal facilities for relatively-low risk radioactive materials were struck ... but there were no reports of radioactive release.
[...] Stressed-out staff poses its own risks to nuclear sites, experts say, because making a mistake on the job can be dangerous. That makes the wellbeing of staff “a humanitarian issue, but not only — it’s also a technical issue,” Grossi said at today’s press conference... (MORE - details)
- - - - - -
Ukrainians are fighting to prevent another Chernobyl
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ng/623878/
EXCERPT: . . . In taking over Chernobyl, Russia is implicitly threatening to cause all that pain all over again. The 15 active, aging nuclear reactors that are spread around Ukraine were not built to withstand an all-out military invasion. Some can survive airplane crashes, but probably not inadvertent strikes from missiles or artillery. Nor can they ward off a destabilizing cyberattack, or protect crucial staff members from being held hostage, as the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said the Russian army has done at Chernobyl. Some of those staff may decide to flee due to threats of violence. An invading military, in control of those reactors, could dial up the threat of nuclear terror to engage in a wider threat of nuclear blackmail.
Russian control of Ukraine’s functioning and decommissioned nuclear power plants would be, in the words of one analyst, like having “nuclear warfare without bombs” if these plants were to be tampered with. When the Russian military captured Chernobyl, Vladimir Putin seized the means by which to inflict nuclear damage through a new form of “dirty” power. Russia is now in a position to cause immediate disaster by reopening a toxic legacy that was meant to be sealed. It could also create uninhabitable zones all around Ukraine and force the country’s people back into inhumanely dangerous cleanup work... (MORE - missing details)
