The Russian Defense Ministry warned Thursday that in the event of a twist of fate at the nuclear plant it occupies in southern Ukraine, radioactive tissues would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia.
Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defense forces, said the plant’s rescue systems broke down as a result of a bombing, Reuters reported, and that several European countries could be in danger in the event of an accident.
Thursday’s warning came as tensions over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came to light, and the fate of the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, will be discussed in talks between U. N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. on Thursday.
Russia and Ukraine have continuously accused others of bombing the power plant.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday it could close the nuclear force plant if Ukrainian forces continue to bomb the facility. Ukraine denies bombing the plant and accuses Russia of endangering the facility, saying it sells ammunition and military apparatus there.
Ukraine and the foreign network warned of the possibility of a catastrophic turn of fate at the plant and on Wednesday, Ukraine’s Emergencies Ministry conducted a nuclear crisis exercise in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on the Dnipro River on the occasion of a turnaround. of destiny.
Zelenskyy said late Wednesday that Ukrainian diplomats and nuclear scientists were in “constant contact” with the International Atomic Energy Agency and were rushing to bring a team of inspectors to the factory occupied by Russian troops since the beginning of the war.
Tensions around the plant have risen in recent weeks, with Ukraine accusing Russia of the facility as a shield and component of a “nuclear blackmail” strategy. that they were at gunpoint.
The cat-and-mouse game over the plant continued on Thursday with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Telegram that Kyiv was making plans as a “provocation” for Guterres’ visit to the plant, saying that “as a result of which the Russian Federation will be blamed for creating a man-made crisis at the power plant. “
The ministry added that, “to prepare for provocation,” it was deploying radiation posts near Zaporizhzhia and organizing educational trainings for various army groups in the region “on measures to be taken in situations of radioactive contamination of the area. “”
Russia has presented no evidence to support its claim and has been accused of “false flag” operations.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that if Russia gets involved in a crisis at the factory, it could withdraw its troops immediately.
The option of a twist of fate 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 fate twist and which led to the spread of radioactive tissues across Europe.
“Probably more than any other country in the world, Ukraine is aware of the consequences of an explosion and fire at a nuclear power plant,” Antony Froggatt and Patricia Lewis, protection and environmental experts at Britain’s Chatham House tank, said in studies last week. examining what is at stake in the case of Zaporizhzhia.
However, they noted that the Zaporizhzhia reactors are distinct from those at Chernobyl but that, nevertheless, a twist of fate at the plant may have significant consequences for Ukraine.
“Zaporizhzhia uses enriched uranium, its existing VVER reactors [water-to-water power reactors] are moderated through graphite, but through water, meaning they are safer and will burn on the way to Chernothroughl,” they said.
Modern jets in Ukraine, such as Zaporizhzhia, are also surrounded by a secondary containment formula: a hard concrete hull designed to cope with explosions and a crashed plane, they noted.
“However, it is unclear how effective they would be against attacks, as the thickness of the retaining wall in this reactor design is 1. 2 meters and a thickness of about two meters is required for new structure projects,” they said.
They noted, however, that radioactive tissues in Zaporizhzhia are also stored in spent fuel pools (or basins), where spent fuel is kept underwater to cool it down and allow radiation degrees to decrease before being transferred to final storage.
“If the coolant is lost from the ponds, either by a direct blow that breaks the containment structures, or by a melting of the core due to loss of force, the stored fuel will increase. If the temperature exceeds 900 degrees Celsius, the cover around the zirconium sheath will ignite, causing the spread of radioactive materials,” they warned.
While any release of radioactive isotopes can be “catastrophic” to surrounding areas, Froggatt and Lewis said that “because of the type of reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the effect would probably not be as severe as the Chernobyl crisis in 1986. “and more likely similar to the scale of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011. “
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