Staff at the Chernobyl power plant "held hostage" by Russian forces: Psaki

[inanna]

Source: Guardian

23:54

Reports are just coming in that staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine are being “held hostage” by Russian soldiers.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has told a news conference that there are credible reports that staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine are being “held hostage” by Russian forces.

We are outraged by credible reports that Russian soldiers are currently holding the staff of the Chernobyl facilities hostage.

This unlawful and dangerous hostage-taking, which could upend the routine civil service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facilities, is obviously incredibly alarming and gravely concerning.

We condemn it and we request their release.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/feb/24/russia-invades-ukraine-declares-war-latest-news-live-updates-russian-invasion-vladimir-putin-explosions-bombing-kyiv-kharkiv

[blue-wave]

1. And that Ass-hat in Belarus

Lukashenko is in on this evil. If there is another disaster at the Chernobyl facility, the prevailing winds in that area will push the radiation over Belarus, killing scores of Belorussians. Lukashenko is a clone of Putin. He doen't care if he slaughters his own people by the thousands.

[groundloop]

2. I'm still not understanding why Putin has any interest in Chernobyl

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I'm just not seeing it.

[inanna]

4. Me either.

I really need someone to explain the Chernobyl situation to me like I am two years old.

Why did the Russians seize Chernobyl?

[PortTack]

5. A terrorist plot possibly. Dirty bomb. If Putin's wants Ukraine so bad he best think this through

A leak from the sarcophagus would blow across Ukraine and a good part of Europe rendering large swaths useless pretty much for ever. But...he’s become unhinged and unpredictable so he may not care. Like his pal dotard, if I can’t have it no one can.

[DENVERPOPS]

9. It has been reported

that the original fix to Chernobyl has been breaking down and needs a more permanent cement structure over it. The internal reaction has continued by the way..... Maybe Putin doesn't want to spare the money it will cost because he desperately needs money to fund his Army......

Also BTW, the Fukashima meltdown is also still continuing and will continue to be active. No one knows how many years it will take to resolve that nightmare. And it's radioactivity has bled into the ocean currents, gone all the way up past Russia, Across to Alaska and down the entire pacific coast from Washington to Mexico......

[Ahpook]

12. I thought a new sarcophagus was placed a few years ago?

The original one still stands under the new one?

[DENVERPOPS]

13. If so,

I haven't seen any news of it.

Last I heard, the Russians needed to put a huge new and better built concrete dome over the old one..........It will have to be a "forever" thing, just like Fukushima! With both of them having a long half life of radioactivity.......(Just like many dangerous Plutonium sites around the U.S.)

Both Chernobyl and Fukushima are still having their original nuclear reactions still going on...........

[Ahpook]

14. Looks like its been confined much more

[DENVERPOPS]

15. Awesome. It certainly wasn't reported much.

Thank you for updating me. That is awesome..........

I gotta tell you, those workers are braver than me.......

I remember watching videos of the first firemen racing in, to throw the pieces back into the core, knowing they were doomed in the next few days, and others who knew they were going to die within the next thirty days......

I am pleasantly surprised and excited about this information that you have revealed to me, thank you for taking the time!

What do you think they should do with Handover? up in Washington/Oregon??????? They haven't done much in the last 30 years and it is in seriously bad condition.......

[Ahpook]

16. It is amazing

I wouldn't want to be in the heart of that mess.

[DENVERPOPS]

17. I have had some training

in major hazmat stuff including nuclear stuff. I call it all: Ethyl-Methyl-bad shit......LOL

I once had the privilege of training some the firefighters stationed at Rocky Flats here in Colorado, the shit they shared over lunch was un-fathomable. Amazingly Rockwell Corporation walked away with a mere handslap and a minor fine, but were never held responsible for paying for the cleanup of the entire site. It still sits there with no cleanup........
The last estimate of Cleanup of this site was 60 Billion Dollars during the HWBush administration.......Interesting that our Colorado Attorney General who covered up the Grand Jury testimony, and resulted in the minor penalties was immediately put in charge of the EPA under HWBush......go figure, I guess she had paid her initiation dues for the Republican party......

This is only one of three Major Hazmat sites in Colorado. All Military related.....

[PortTack]

18. Interesting..thx for weighing in. My sister used to work for argon back in the 90s as a chemical

Engineer.... during the time of the Clinton super fund site clean up. she had amazing stories too

[DENVERPOPS]

19. Interesting

a good friend who was much older than me, was a chem E at rocky mountain arsenal next the old stapleton airport here in Denver.

He talked about the stuff that went on there, directed by some big U.S corporation the entire time he was there, which was most of his lifetime.
They don't dare open up the land where it stood, and now is a wildlife preserve. After hearing his stories, I can understand why they don't let anyone in there.....NOT LOL

And of course there is the military depot in Pueblo Co. There are like 45,000 "wet eye" bombs left over from their production in the Viet Nam War? Wet Eye is shorthand for poisonous gas.
They have begun leaking, and the Military and Gov't are not doing a stellar job of disarming them and safely destroying the chemical inside them. It may take 10-20 years at the rate they are going.......

Silly me, I thought the Geneva Convention had outlawed chemical warfare decades before VietNam........Some company made a fortune manufacturing those banned bombs, for whatever reasons they were made, and that were never used.

Enough, my blood pressure is already high enough.......

WASF

[DENVERPOPS]

29. Funny we should be talking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This article came out yesterday..................

https://www.cpr.org/2022/02/25/dismantling-wwii-mustard-gas-weapons-pueblo-chemical-agent-destruction-pilot-plant/

This is the least of the problem sites of our Three Major Nightmares in Colorado (200,000 Mustard Gas bombs/mortars.......)

[PortTack]

30. Oh boy..that is a big problem

[mitch96]

21. "Dirty bomb".. Why would you "invade" a place like Chernobyl that is hot as a radioactive pistol?

What would you do with it? Hummm like blow the top off when the wind is right and have the radioactivity act as a dirty bomb all over Europe...
Worse case I think and HOPE it does not come to this..
Putin has been making threats of "massive" retaliation if any country messes with his invasion... uff YMMV

m

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

25. My thought as well.

He now has a potential nuclear deterrent without using actual weapons. If something goes wrong, he cannot be said to have used CBRN weapons in violation of international law/treaties.

It was just an industrial accident.

"You got a nice country there. It'd be a shame if someone accidently covered it in a nuclear cloud of death. So shut up and stay out."

Or maybe that's just me.

[mitch96]

27. "It'd be a shame if......" right out of the mafia extortion play book.... gangster..nt

[sarisataka]

8. I am guessing two reasons

First is there are highways in the area that the Russians are using, sabotage to the facility could make them unusable

Second is they can use the threat of intentional contamination against any future resistance

[brooklynite]

10. It is NOT evident that Chernobyl was a target

Chernobyl was on one of the main roads from Belarus (where Russian troops were staged) to Central Ukraine. It had a detachment of troops to monitor the exclusion zone. It would be necessary to defeat them, and then presumably control the area rather than just drive off.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

11. Provides an element of cover for their forces and some protection from attack due to the risk of

contamination. Perhaps a staging area for assault on Kyiv to the south.

[icymist]

3. I have just come across this. I hope it's wrong. Going to look for a second source.

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=mQYS2uOcU9OsvwASfs5IUw

(((Uncle Stephen)))
@Tio_Stephen
Dear Lord @EINS_Institute Did they breach the security shields around the containment site?
Euromaidan PR
@EuromaidanPR
UNCONFIRMED: High radiation levels registered in #Chernobyl seized by Russia’s army | EMPR #Ukraine #RussiaInvadedUkraine

[PortTack]

6. There are always high radiation levels in and around Chernobyl

[DENVERPOPS]

24. Probably not a lot different

than Rocky Flats Colorado or Handover? up in Oregon/Washington and many of others.

The difference is, our politicians have not forced the companies that ran those sights to pay for remediation.............

Handover?, is becoming a nightmare, from what I have read...........

[TomWilm]

7. Russia is as scared of Chernobyl as anybody ...

... since it played a big role in showing that the Soviet Union was in total disarray.

"It seems likely that Russian forces are under orders to prevent damage to the site, given the danger escaping radioactivity poses to Russia."
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a39211540/why-russian-forces-seized-chernobyl/

[Ghost Dog]

20. Also, Zelinsky said his people want to have nuclear weapons.

At Chernobyl and other sites there are materials that could be used for this.

[Jimbo S]

22. My understanding

this is not possible. The uranium is not rich enough(??) I'm not a nuclear engineer.

[Ghost Dog]

26. There's plutonium in the spent fuel.

Apparently, small-scale extraction is not too difficult.

There are other nuclear sites, see https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/A-guide-Nuclear-power-in-Ukraine

[mitch96]

28. Time for our resident nuclear scientist to chime in...nt

[Jimbo S]

23. This plant is still in operation ?!?

OK, I hear this now for the first time. I thought that whole area was condemned for like 1,000,000 years.