Russia and Ukraine have been fighting fiercely for days, all kinds of news flooded the Internet, in addition to the general war situation, the scramble for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant can not help but make people tense their nerves: Is there a cloud of nuclear disaster? According to the Global Times relayed foreign media reports, on February 24, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy tweeted that the Russian army had tried to occupy the nuclear facility in Chernobyl and exchanged fire with the Ukrainian army on the ground.
Russian tanks appear near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
By February 25, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that Russian paratroopers had taken control of the Cherno nuclear power plant area on February 24 and reached an agreement with Ukrainian soldiers to protect the plant. The news was also confirmed by a spokesperson for Ukraine's state restricted area management agency, who said that on the first day of Russia's multi-way attack on Ukraine, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was lost:
"When I came to the office this morning, I found that the management of the nuclear power plant had left and no one had given instructions."
This is extremely sensitive news, because it shows that the war between Russia and Ukraine has burned from the beginning to Chernobyl, the site of the worst nuclear accident to date. Thirty-six years ago, in 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Reactor No. 4 exploded, leaking a large amount of radioactive material, killing dozens of people that day and causing extensive and long-term nuclear pollution, and the surrounding 2,600 square kilometers became a forbidden area.
Reactor No. 4, which was blown up in a nuclear accident
To this day, hundreds of tons of radioactive contaminants still exist in the ruins of Unit 4. In order to prevent the leakage of pollutants from strong radiation, the former Soviet Union built a "sarcophagus" made of reinforced concrete. In 2016, a new steel structure protective cover replaced the old sarcophagus, which was already severely aged, and this new sarcophagus is said to guarantee that radioactive material will not leak for 100 years.
More than 30 years after the nuclear disaster, why did Russia and Ukraine start fighting near the ruins of the nuclear power plant, and what is the purpose of the competition for the nuclear power plant? And the biggest worry is, of course, whether hundreds of tons of radioactive materials will leak out during the war, thus once again causing a terrible disaster.
I have to say: if this is a war without a lower limit, then the war in Chernobyl does have the potential to trigger a nuclear disaster! This is not alarmist, and you will understand after reading the analysis below.
Photo of the installation process of the new sarcophagus
Ukraine has long since eliminated its nuclear weapons, but it is not entirely nuclear-free. In addition to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which has been closed, there are 15 nuclear power units in operation, of which the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is also the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, with a total of 6 units and a total installed capacity of 6 million kilowatts. These nuclear facilities are sensitive areas of war and are hot potatoes for both sides.
In the case of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the No. 4 reactor plant, which was already damaged in the explosion, not only contained a large amount of deadly highly radioactive material, but also a part of the fissile uranium-235 in the nuclear fuel that was melted down that year. Since the structure of the nuclear fuel element has been destroyed, these fissile materials accumulate into piles, and under certain conditions, it is possible to recritical and nuclear reactions.
Nuclear fuel melts containing fissile material
If, in the midst of a fierce engagement, a bomb or missile hits a sarcophagus, a violent explosion will not only directly blow the radioactive material around, but may also change the shape of the molten nuclear fuel. If you are unlucky, you will recritically react, a chain fission reaction, and a huge amount of radioactive gas will be formed again and spread, which is equivalent to the nuclear disaster of 36 years ago repeating itself! Not only Ukraine, but also the rest of Europe is hard not to be affected.
Not only Reactor 4, but also three other reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which were not fully shut down until the end of 2000, and nuclear fuel was unloaded and stored in cooling pools. If the bomb hits a cooling pool where waste nuclear fuel is stored, highly radioactive material and gases in the shell of spent fuel will also spread, causing disaster. Even if it is not hit, just the power is cut off and cooling is lost, and the nuclear fuel envelope is at risk of damage.
If the risk of a nuclear catastrophe is so great, why should the Russian army seize Chernobyl as quickly as possible? I think there should be two reasons:
Regional radiation values in Europe after the 1986 nuclear accident
The easiest thing to think of is to prevent the Ukrainian side from using nuclear waste and pollutants to make dirty bombs. Dirty bombs are far less difficult to make than nuclear weapons, as long as some radioactive material is placed in ordinary bombs, they can cause serious pollution effects after explosion. The amount of nuclear pollutants in Chernobyl is very large and relatively easy to obtain, theoretically allowing the manufacture of a large number of dirty bombs. If these dirty bombs are used to attack the Russian mainland, it will definitely be a big trouble for the Russian side.
So will Ukraine do this? It cannot be completely ruled out, especially that there are paramilitary organizations such as the "Azov Battalion" in the armed forces of the Ukrainian side, which have neo-Nazi overtones. If the fanatical armed personnel have dirty bullets, they will become a serious problem for the Russian army. In order to prevent trouble before it happened, it is not difficult to understand that the Russian side sent airborne troops as soon as the war began to seize the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as quickly as possible.
Although the explosion of dirty bombs is small, the pollution is extremely serious
In addition to the threat of dirty bombs, Centauri believes that there is another reason: Chernobyl is not far from the Ukrainian border and the capital Kiev, if the Ukrainian army relies on nuclear facilities to deploy heavy troops here, the ballistic missiles and other killer weapons are placed next to the "sarcophagus", once the Russian army launches an attack, it is possible to destroy the sarcophagus and cause radioactive materials to leak.
If this is really possible, not only will Russia be condemned morally, but it will also have a considerable adverse impact on its own actions, which is, to put it bluntly, a "rat thrower." And who does not dare to guarantee that no one will pretend to be a Russian military to sabotage the nuclear power plant and cause a nuclear leak, then Russia will not be able to defend it.
The bomb may have injured the nuclear power plant by mistake
Therefore, the Russian side took advantage of the preemptive occupation of nuclear power plants before Ukraine was deployed here, and it also removed this concern. Now that Chernobyl is under russian control, if the Ukrainian army launches a counter-offensive, it will also face similar problems and is not easy to capture.
Fortunately, the staff of the nuclear power plant now seems to have reached some kind of agreement or tacit agreement with the Russian side, and the facility is still in a safe state. International Atomic Energy Director-General Grosi also said: "Ukrainian regulators reported that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was not damaged and there were no casualties.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
But how this matter will end in the future is still a rather troublesome matter. The 1986 nuclear disaster, the first trigger was also war: Israel sent planes to blow up Iraq's nuclear reactors, causing concern in the Soviet Union, in order to simulate the response to the attack on the nuclear power plant, the test was carried out, and due to reactor design problems and personnel misoperation caused a catastrophe. 36 years later, if the Pandora's Box of Nuclear Disasters were triggered again by war, it would be a human tragedy.
The President of Ukraine says that the Russian military has taken control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant ##泽连斯基称俄军队已控制切尔诺贝利核电站 #