Russian official issues stark threats to the West

[BumRushDaShow]

40. They seem to be doing the ultimate "hostage" situation

by surrounding Chernobyl.

Concerns mount over conflict in Chernobyl exclusion zone

Radioactive material that lingers near Chernobyl could cause further calamity.

By Julia Jacobo
February 24, 2022, 5:22 PM



As Russian troops continue to inch their way through its invasion of Ukraine, a secondary catastrophe to the fighting between the ex-Soviet neighbors is possible: another nuclear reaction at Chernobyl.

On Thursday afternoon, Russian armed forces entered the deserted exclusion zone around the Chernobyl power plant, where the world's worst nuclear accident took place in 1986. By night, Russian forces had taken full control of the area, including the plant itself, according to Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The heavy fighting inside the "exclusion zone," a vast and empty land surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant that includes the ghost city of Pripyat, is causing concern that it could spark another nuclear disaster. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano is watching the situation with "grave concern, appealing for "maximum restraint" amid the conflict to avoid putting the nuclear facility at risk.

"It is of vital importance that the safe and secure operations of the nuclear facilities in that zone should not be affected or disrupted in any way," Mariano said in a statement. On April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 at the power plant, about 65 miles north of the capital Kyiv, exploded, spewing enormous amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere and causing more than 100,000 people in a 1,000-square-mile radius to evacuate.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/concerns-mount-fighting-chernobyl-exclusion-zone/story?id=83085943

Chernobyl: Radiation spike at nuclear plant seized by Russian forces

By Victoria Gill
Science correspondent, BBC News

1 day ago


The Chernobyl site contains several nuclear waste containment facilities to prevent radioactive materials spreading

A radiation spike has been recorded near Chernobyl's nuclear power plant which has been seized by Russian forces, monitoring data shows. Invading Russian troops took control of the plant - the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986 - on Thursday, Ukraine said. Radiation levels increased about 20-fold on Thursday, monitoring stations there reported.

But experts say another major nuclear disaster there is "extremely unlikely". The rise was caused by heavy military vehicles stirring contaminated soil in the 4,000-sq-km (2,485 sq-mile) exclusion zone surrounding the abandoned plant, Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate reported .

The biggest spike was recorded close to the damaged reactor. Radiation levels are continuously monitored there - measured as a dose that you would receive per hour in a location.

Close to the reactor, you would normally receive a dose of about three units - called microsieverts - every hour. But on Thursday, that jumped to 65 microSv/hrs - about five times more than you would get on one transatlantic flight.



(snip)



https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60528828

Early on, there was some dismissal of what had happened in Fukushima Daiichi after the earthquake and tsunami (and that was 11 years ago)... and we saw what happened after that. In the case of Chernobyl, the core is still burning within its containment.