Russia Warns That Radioactive Material From The Nuclear Plant Could Cover Europe

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images Russia’s defense ministry warned on Thursday that if an accident occurred at the nuclear power plant it owns in southern Ukraine, radioactive material would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, said the plant’s support systems had been destroyed as a result of the bombing, Reuters reported, and that many countries in Europe could be at risk in the event of an accident. The warning on Thursday came as tensions over the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came to the fore, with the fate of the facility – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – being discussed in talks between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday. Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of bombing the power plant. Russia’s defense ministry said on Thursday it may shut down the nuclear plant if Ukrainian forces continue to shell the facility. Ukraine denies bombing the plant and instead accuses Russia of endangering the facility, saying it stores ammunition and military equipment there.

International warning

Ukraine and the international community have warned of the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the plant, and on Wednesday Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry held a nuclear disaster drill in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on the Dnipro River in case of an accident. Zelensky said Wednesday night that Ukrainian diplomats and nuclear scientists were in “constant contact” with the International Atomic Energy Agency and were working to bring a team of inspectors to the plant that has been occupied by Russian troops since the early stages of the war. Tensions over the plant have risen in recent weeks with Ukraine accusing Russia of using the facility as a shield and part of a “nuclear blackmail” strategy. Ukrainians still working at the facility say they are effectively being held hostage there, telling the BBC last week they are being held at gunpoint. The cat-and-mouse game over the plant continued on Thursday with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Telegram that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” at the power plant during Guterres’ visit, saying that “resulting in accusing the Russian Federation of creating a man-made disaster at the power plant.” The ministry added that, “in order to prepare for the challenge,” it is deploying radioactivity observation posts near Zaporizhia and organizing training exercises for a number of military units in the region “on measures to be taken in the event of radioactive contamination of the region.” Russia has presented no evidence for its claim and has often been accused of “false flag” operations. An adviser to Ukraine’s president Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that if Russia was worried about a disaster at the plant, it could withdraw its troops immediately.

What could happen?

The possibility of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is a frightening prospect for Ukraine, a country still living with the scars of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which remains the world’s worst nuclear accident and which led to the spread of radioactive material all over Europe. “Probably more than any country in the world, Ukraine knows the consequences of an explosion and a fire at a nuclear plant,” Antony Froggatt and Patricia Lewis, environment and security experts from the British thinktank Chatham House, said in a survey last week. in what is at stake in the case of Zaporizhia. However, they noted that the Zaporizhzhia reactors are different from those at Chernobyl, but that an accident at the plant could nevertheless have significant consequences for Ukraine. “Zaporizhzhia uses enriched uranium, its current VVER [water-water energetic reactors] Reactors are not tempered by graphite, but by water, which means they are safer and will not burn up on the way to Chernobyl,” they said. Modern reactors in Ukraine, such as Zaporizhzhia, are also surrounded by a secondary containment system — a hard concrete shell designed to withstand explosions and a crashed plane, they noted. “However, it is unclear how effective they would be against attacks as the thickness of the containment wall in this reactor design is traditionally 1.2 meters and around two meters thickness is required for new construction projects,” they said. . They noted, however, that radioactive material in Zaporizhzhia is also stored in spent fuel tanks (or ponds), where spent fuel is kept underwater to cool and allow radiation levels to fall before being transported to a final repository.
“If coolant is lost from the ponds, either by a direct hit breaching the containment structures or by core melting due to loss of power, the stored fuel will heat up. If the temperature rises above about 900 degrees Celsius, the cladding around the zirconium will ignite, leading to the spread of radioactive material,” they warned. Although any release of radioactive isotopes could be “catastrophic” for the surrounding areas, Froggatt and Lewis said that “because of the type of reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the impact would probably not be as severe as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and probably similar in scale to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.”

title: “Russia Warns That Radioactive Material From The Nuclear Plant Could Cover Europe Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-11” author: “Luis Truitt”

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images Russia’s defense ministry warned on Thursday that if an accident occurred at the nuclear power plant it owns in southern Ukraine, radioactive material would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, said the plant’s support systems had been destroyed as a result of the bombing, Reuters reported, and that many countries in Europe could be at risk in the event of an accident. The warning on Thursday came as tensions over the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came to the fore, with the fate of the facility – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – being discussed in talks between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday. Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of bombing the power plant. Russia’s defense ministry said on Thursday it may shut down the nuclear plant if Ukrainian forces continue to shell the facility. Ukraine denies bombing the plant and instead accuses Russia of endangering the facility, saying it stores ammunition and military equipment there.

International warning

Ukraine and the international community have warned of the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the plant, and on Wednesday Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry held a nuclear disaster drill in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on the Dnipro River in case of an accident. Zelensky said Wednesday night that Ukrainian diplomats and nuclear scientists were in “constant contact” with the International Atomic Energy Agency and were working to bring a team of inspectors to the plant that has been occupied by Russian troops since the early stages of the war. Tensions over the plant have risen in recent weeks with Ukraine accusing Russia of using the facility as a shield and part of a “nuclear blackmail” strategy. Ukrainians still working at the facility say they are effectively being held hostage there, telling the BBC last week they are being held at gunpoint. The cat-and-mouse game over the plant continued on Thursday with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Telegram that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” at the power plant during Guterres’ visit, saying that “resulting in accusing the Russian Federation of creating a man-made disaster at the power plant.” The ministry added that, “in order to prepare for the challenge,” it is deploying radioactivity observation posts near Zaporizhia and organizing training exercises for a number of military units in the region “on measures to be taken in the event of radioactive contamination of the region.” Russia has presented no evidence for its claim and has often been accused of “false flag” operations. An adviser to Ukraine’s president Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that if Russia was worried about a disaster at the plant, it could withdraw its troops immediately.

What could happen?

The possibility of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is a frightening prospect for Ukraine, a country still living with the scars of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which remains the world’s worst nuclear accident and which led to the spread of radioactive material all over Europe. “Probably more than any country in the world, Ukraine knows the consequences of an explosion and a fire at a nuclear plant,” Antony Froggatt and Patricia Lewis, environment and security experts from the British thinktank Chatham House, said in a survey last week. in what is at stake in the case of Zaporizhia. However, they noted that the Zaporizhzhia reactors are different from those at Chernobyl, but that an accident at the plant could nevertheless have significant consequences for Ukraine. “Zaporizhzhia uses enriched uranium, its current VVER [water-water energetic reactors] Reactors are not tempered by graphite, but by water, which means they are safer and will not burn up on the way to Chernobyl,” they said. Modern reactors in Ukraine, such as Zaporizhzhia, are also surrounded by a secondary containment system — a hard concrete shell designed to withstand explosions and a crashed plane, they noted. “However, it is unclear how effective they would be against attacks as the thickness of the containment wall in this reactor design is traditionally 1.2 meters and around two meters thickness is required for new construction projects,” they said. . They noted, however, that radioactive material in Zaporizhzhia is also stored in spent fuel tanks (or ponds), where spent fuel is kept underwater to cool and allow radiation levels to fall before being transported to a final repository.
“If coolant is lost from the ponds, either by a direct hit breaching the containment structures or by core melting due to loss of power, the stored fuel will heat up. If the temperature rises above about 900 degrees Celsius, the cladding around the zirconium will ignite, leading to the spread of radioactive material,” they warned. Although any release of radioactive isotopes could be “catastrophic” for the surrounding areas, Froggatt and Lewis said that “because of the type of reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the impact would probably not be as severe as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and probably similar in scale to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.”

title: “Russia Warns That Radioactive Material From The Nuclear Plant Could Cover Europe Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-10” author: “Paul Morgan”

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images Russia’s defense ministry warned on Thursday that if an accident occurred at the nuclear power plant it owns in southern Ukraine, radioactive material would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, said the plant’s support systems had been destroyed as a result of the bombing, Reuters reported, and that many countries in Europe could be at risk in the event of an accident. The warning on Thursday came as tensions over the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came to the fore, with the fate of the facility – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – being discussed in talks between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday. Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of bombing the power plant. Russia’s defense ministry said on Thursday it may shut down the nuclear plant if Ukrainian forces continue to shell the facility. Ukraine denies bombing the plant and instead accuses Russia of endangering the facility, saying it stores ammunition and military equipment there.

International warning

Ukraine and the international community have warned of the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the plant, and on Wednesday Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry held a nuclear disaster drill in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on the Dnipro River in case of an accident. Zelensky said Wednesday night that Ukrainian diplomats and nuclear scientists were in “constant contact” with the International Atomic Energy Agency and were working to bring a team of inspectors to the plant that has been occupied by Russian troops since the early stages of the war. Tensions over the plant have risen in recent weeks with Ukraine accusing Russia of using the facility as a shield and part of a “nuclear blackmail” strategy. Ukrainians still working at the facility say they are effectively being held hostage there, telling the BBC last week they are being held at gunpoint. The cat-and-mouse game over the plant continued on Thursday with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Telegram that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” at the power plant during Guterres’ visit, saying that “resulting in accusing the Russian Federation of creating a man-made disaster at the power plant.” The ministry added that, “in order to prepare for the challenge,” it is deploying radioactivity observation posts near Zaporizhia and organizing training exercises for a number of military units in the region “on measures to be taken in the event of radioactive contamination of the region.” Russia has presented no evidence for its claim and has often been accused of “false flag” operations. An adviser to Ukraine’s president Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that if Russia was worried about a disaster at the plant, it could withdraw its troops immediately.

What could happen?

The possibility of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is a frightening prospect for Ukraine, a country still living with the scars of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which remains the world’s worst nuclear accident and which led to the spread of radioactive material all over Europe. “Probably more than any country in the world, Ukraine knows the consequences of an explosion and a fire at a nuclear plant,” Antony Froggatt and Patricia Lewis, environment and security experts from the British thinktank Chatham House, said in a survey last week. in what is at stake in the case of Zaporizhia. However, they noted that the Zaporizhzhia reactors are different from those at Chernobyl, but that an accident at the plant could nevertheless have significant consequences for Ukraine. “Zaporizhzhia uses enriched uranium, its current VVER [water-water energetic reactors] Reactors are not tempered by graphite, but by water, which means they are safer and will not burn up on the way to Chernobyl,” they said. Modern reactors in Ukraine, such as Zaporizhzhia, are also surrounded by a secondary containment system — a hard concrete shell designed to withstand explosions and a crashed plane, they noted. “However, it is unclear how effective they would be against attacks as the thickness of the containment wall in this reactor design is traditionally 1.2 meters and around two meters thickness is required for new construction projects,” they said. . They noted, however, that radioactive material in Zaporizhzhia is also stored in spent fuel tanks (or ponds), where spent fuel is kept underwater to cool and allow radiation levels to fall before being transported to a final repository.
“If coolant is lost from the ponds, either by a direct hit breaching the containment structures or by core melting due to loss of power, the stored fuel will heat up. If the temperature rises above about 900 degrees Celsius, the cladding around the zirconium will ignite, leading to the spread of radioactive material,” they warned. Although any release of radioactive isotopes could be “catastrophic” for the surrounding areas, Froggatt and Lewis said that “because of the type of reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the impact would probably not be as severe as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and probably similar in scale to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.”

title: “Russia Warns That Radioactive Material From The Nuclear Plant Could Cover Europe Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-06” author: “Frank Ponyah”

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images Russia’s defense ministry warned on Thursday that if an accident occurred at the nuclear power plant it owns in southern Ukraine, radioactive material would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, said the plant’s support systems had been destroyed as a result of the bombing, Reuters reported, and that many countries in Europe could be at risk in the event of an accident. The warning on Thursday came as tensions over the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came to the fore, with the fate of the facility – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – being discussed in talks between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday. Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of bombing the power plant. Russia’s defense ministry said on Thursday it may shut down the nuclear plant if Ukrainian forces continue to shell the facility. Ukraine denies bombing the plant and instead accuses Russia of endangering the facility, saying it stores ammunition and military equipment there.

International warning

Ukraine and the international community have warned of the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the plant, and on Wednesday Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry held a nuclear disaster drill in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on the Dnipro River in case of an accident. Zelensky said Wednesday night that Ukrainian diplomats and nuclear scientists were in “constant contact” with the International Atomic Energy Agency and were working to bring a team of inspectors to the plant that has been occupied by Russian troops since the early stages of the war. Tensions over the plant have risen in recent weeks with Ukraine accusing Russia of using the facility as a shield and part of a “nuclear blackmail” strategy. Ukrainians still working at the facility say they are effectively being held hostage there, telling the BBC last week they are being held at gunpoint. The cat-and-mouse game over the plant continued on Thursday with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Telegram that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” at the power plant during Guterres’ visit, saying that “resulting in accusing the Russian Federation of creating a man-made disaster at the power plant.” The ministry added that, “in order to prepare for the challenge,” it is deploying radioactivity observation posts near Zaporizhia and organizing training exercises for a number of military units in the region “on measures to be taken in the event of radioactive contamination of the region.” Russia has presented no evidence for its claim and has often been accused of “false flag” operations. An adviser to Ukraine’s president Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that if Russia was worried about a disaster at the plant, it could withdraw its troops immediately.

What could happen?

The possibility of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is a frightening prospect for Ukraine, a country still living with the scars of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which remains the world’s worst nuclear accident and which led to the spread of radioactive material all over Europe. “Probably more than any country in the world, Ukraine knows the consequences of an explosion and a fire at a nuclear plant,” Antony Froggatt and Patricia Lewis, environment and security experts from the British thinktank Chatham House, said in a survey last week. in what is at stake in the case of Zaporizhia. However, they noted that the Zaporizhzhia reactors are different from those at Chernobyl, but that an accident at the plant could nevertheless have significant consequences for Ukraine. “Zaporizhzhia uses enriched uranium, its current VVER [water-water energetic reactors] Reactors are not tempered by graphite, but by water, which means they are safer and will not burn up on the way to Chernobyl,” they said. Modern reactors in Ukraine, such as Zaporizhzhia, are also surrounded by a secondary containment system — a hard concrete shell designed to withstand explosions and a crashed plane, they noted. “However, it is unclear how effective they would be against attacks as the thickness of the containment wall in this reactor design is traditionally 1.2 meters and around two meters thickness is required for new construction projects,” they said. . They noted, however, that radioactive material in Zaporizhzhia is also stored in spent fuel tanks (or ponds), where spent fuel is kept underwater to cool and allow radiation levels to fall before being transported to a final repository.
“If coolant is lost from the ponds, either by a direct hit breaching the containment structures or by core melting due to loss of power, the stored fuel will heat up. If the temperature rises above about 900 degrees Celsius, the cladding around the zirconium will ignite, leading to the spread of radioactive material,” they warned. Although any release of radioactive isotopes could be “catastrophic” for the surrounding areas, Froggatt and Lewis said that “because of the type of reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the impact would probably not be as severe as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and probably similar in scale to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.”

title: “Russia Warns That Radioactive Material From The Nuclear Plant Could Cover Europe Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Juan Robinson”

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images Russia’s defense ministry warned on Thursday that if an accident occurred at the nuclear power plant it owns in southern Ukraine, radioactive material would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, said the plant’s support systems had been destroyed as a result of the bombing, Reuters reported, and that many countries in Europe could be at risk in the event of an accident. The warning on Thursday came as tensions over the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came to the fore, with the fate of the facility – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – being discussed in talks between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday. Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of bombing the power plant. Russia’s defense ministry said on Thursday it may shut down the nuclear plant if Ukrainian forces continue to shell the facility. Ukraine denies bombing the plant and instead accuses Russia of endangering the facility, saying it stores ammunition and military equipment there.

International warning

Ukraine and the international community have warned of the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the plant, and on Wednesday Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry held a nuclear disaster drill in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on the Dnipro River in case of an accident. Zelensky said Wednesday night that Ukrainian diplomats and nuclear scientists were in “constant contact” with the International Atomic Energy Agency and were working to bring a team of inspectors to the plant that has been occupied by Russian troops since the early stages of the war. Tensions over the plant have risen in recent weeks with Ukraine accusing Russia of using the facility as a shield and part of a “nuclear blackmail” strategy. Ukrainians still working at the facility say they are effectively being held hostage there, telling the BBC last week they are being held at gunpoint. The cat-and-mouse game over the plant continued on Thursday with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Telegram that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” at the power plant during Guterres’ visit, saying that “resulting in accusing the Russian Federation of creating a man-made disaster at the power plant.” The ministry added that, “in order to prepare for the challenge,” it is deploying radioactivity observation posts near Zaporizhia and organizing training exercises for a number of military units in the region “on measures to be taken in the event of radioactive contamination of the region.” Russia has presented no evidence for its claim and has often been accused of “false flag” operations. An adviser to Ukraine’s president Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that if Russia was worried about a disaster at the plant, it could withdraw its troops immediately.

What could happen?

The possibility of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is a frightening prospect for Ukraine, a country still living with the scars of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which remains the world’s worst nuclear accident and which led to the spread of radioactive material all over Europe. “Probably more than any country in the world, Ukraine knows the consequences of an explosion and a fire at a nuclear plant,” Antony Froggatt and Patricia Lewis, environment and security experts from the British thinktank Chatham House, said in a survey last week. in what is at stake in the case of Zaporizhia. However, they noted that the Zaporizhzhia reactors are different from those at Chernobyl, but that an accident at the plant could nevertheless have significant consequences for Ukraine. “Zaporizhzhia uses enriched uranium, its current VVER [water-water energetic reactors] Reactors are not tempered by graphite, but by water, which means they are safer and will not burn up on the way to Chernobyl,” they said. Modern reactors in Ukraine, such as Zaporizhzhia, are also surrounded by a secondary containment system — a hard concrete shell designed to withstand explosions and a crashed plane, they noted. “However, it is unclear how effective they would be against attacks as the thickness of the containment wall in this reactor design is traditionally 1.2 meters and around two meters thickness is required for new construction projects,” they said. . They noted, however, that radioactive material in Zaporizhzhia is also stored in spent fuel tanks (or ponds), where spent fuel is kept underwater to cool and allow radiation levels to fall before being transported to a final repository.
“If coolant is lost from the ponds, either by a direct hit breaching the containment structures or by core melting due to loss of power, the stored fuel will heat up. If the temperature rises above about 900 degrees Celsius, the cladding around the zirconium will ignite, leading to the spread of radioactive material,” they warned. Although any release of radioactive isotopes could be “catastrophic” for the surrounding areas, Froggatt and Lewis said that “because of the type of reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the impact would probably not be as severe as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and probably similar in scale to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.”