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Unexploded “Smerch” rocket threatens Ukrainian nuclear facility
Combat operations continue in the area of the NSI “Neutron Source” facility. Upon examination of the facility in Kharkiv, personnel found what looks like an unexploded rocket of the multiple launch rocket system 9K58 “Smerch”. The presence of this ordnance poses danger of a new explosion in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear installation. Work…
Read MoreThe Chernobyl tinder box: War increases fire risks
Forest fires have again erupted around the defunct and radioactively-contaminated Chernobyl nuclear power facility. Fires reloft and redistribute radionuclides trapped in soil and the forest litter, which is taking much longer to decay than it should, providing further fuel for fires. When one reactor core of the 4-reactor Chernobyl complex melted down and exploded in…
Read MoreThe current situation at Zaporizhzhia
While the situation at Chornobyl remains precarious, given the absence of shift changes and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine’s (SNRIU) total loss of contact with the staff there, the situation at Zaporizhzhia seems a little more transparent, although fraught with risk. As the SNRIU points out, the presence of ROSATOM personnel there is…
Read MoreThe current situation at Chornobyl
March 16 update from The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine The SNRIU continues informing on the state of the Chornobyl NPP. Until now, all Chornobyl NPP facilities, and facilities located in the Exclusion Zone are under the control of the aggressor country’s military. At present, the regulatory control over the state of nuclear and…
Read MoreAttack on Zaporizhzhia was far closer to disaster
A video analysis of unfolding events at the Zaporizhzhia reactors in Ukraine show disaster was much closer than had been originally reported. NPR reviewed over four hours of video footage along with photographs, which revealed Russian troops repeatedly fired heavy weapons in the direction of the massive reactor buildings, shredding the administrative building. A shell…
Read MoreNuclear power in the crosshairs of war
Ecoaction, an environmental NGO in Ukraine, and the European Chernobyl Foundation, hosted a briefing Thursday, March 10, updating the nuclear status of Ukraine — highlighting physical safety problems, and grave staffing concerns these facilities. Experts raised the dangers caused by mistreatment of staff such as lack of food, rest, and heat, inability to obtain needed…
Read MoreEleven years out: For Fukushima victims, landmark decision
Japan’s Supreme Court has ordered Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power station, to pay 12 million dollars to 3,700 people, compensating them for damages suffered as a result of the nuclear catastrophe that began on March 11, 2011. It was the first among 30 similar lawsuits to reach such…
Read MorePower severed to Chernobyl, threatening irradiated fuel pools
Fighting around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power facility has severed a power line used to supply power to the two on-site irradiated fuel pools that house 20,000 capsules of radioactive waste. This waste is not just used and highly-radioactive fuel, but also ruined and radioactive material from the exploded reactor that melted down in 1986.…
Read MoreChernobyl: From radioactive exclusion zone to war zone
Radiation and wildlife expert, Timothy Mousseau, Professor of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, has studied radiation’s impact in wild areas for decades. He enumerates what can go wrong when a site that “is among the most radioactively contaminated regions on the planet” becomes a war zone. In his article for The Conversation, he states…
Read MoreOn air coverage on Ukraine nuclear
Beyond Nuclear had been calling out the dangers of war around nuclear power plants even before the Russian invasion. Now, it has become a tragic reality. Beyond Nuclear staff have made a number of television appearances. First, the concerns centered only around Chernobyl. Then came the attack on Zaporizhzhia You can watch Kevin Kamps explain…
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