Due to well-known reasons, the power supply of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has encountered difficulties, the only power supply system has been destroyed, and the cooling system of the spent fuel storage facility in the nuclear power plant will stop functioning, which many people fear may lead to another nuclear leak at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Since the power supply system has been damaged, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant can only rely on backup diesel generators to supply electricity to maintain the operation of the cooling system.
At this stage, nuclear power plants generally use the energy released during nuclear fission to generate electricity, although the power generation is OK, but the biggest problem is that nuclear waste is not easy to deal with.
The spent fuel mentioned above is the unburned fuel rod replaced from the reactor core of the nuclear power plant, which is extremely radioactive and cannot be discarded at will, and needs to be sealed with a special container and stored in a special place. According to reliable sources, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant still has about 20,000 spent fuel components.
Although the spent fuel is not used, it is still radioactive, and the radioactive materials such as uranium and plutonium in it can also decay, and this process will still release energy, which means that the spent fuel still has waste heat.
Although there is now spent fuel reprocessing technology, it is possible to extract radioactive materials such as uranium and plutonium from the fuel rod under highly radioactive conditions and recycle them again, so as to achieve the disposal of nuclear waste. However, this technology is not yet mature and is difficult to use on a large scale.
Storage of untreated spent fuel must be equipped with a cooling system, because if there is an event of overheating of spent fuel, it may cause an explosion and cause another nuclear leak. For safety, these facilities must maintain a 24-hour uninterrupted power supply and be equipped with emergency power generation systems.
Is there a high probability of another nuclear leak at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant?
In 1986, an explosion occurred in Unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but it was not until 2000 that all the generating units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant completely ceased operations.
If it was in previous years, once the cooling system stopped working, the risk was still quite large.
However, relevant experts said that after more than 20 years, the heat generated by the spent fuel storage pool at this stage is not as large as before, and the cooling water contained in the pool is enough to maintain effective heat dissipation without power supply. Therefore, even if the power supply of the cooling system is terminated, the spent fuel will not leak radioactive material due to overheating events.
In addition, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has always been staffed, but recently for some reasons they have not been able to rest well, which is not conducive to the performance of their duties.
In fact, what should be more worrying is that the sealing facilities on Unit 4 should not be destroyed, which can hide a large number of ultra-high concentrations of nuclear raw materials, which are far more harmful than spent fuel. In the unlikely event of a critical event for some reason, an explosion will be triggered.
In fact, many European countries attach great importance to the safety of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, because the Chernobyl nuclear power plant leakage accident that occurred in 1986 affected many European countries, causing millions of people to suffer from nuclear radiation, which is the most serious nuclear leakage event in human history and is deeply remembered by Europeans.
In order to prevent the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from discovering another nuclear leak, many European countries not only helped build steel coffins, replacing the old sarcophagus above Unit 4, but also funded the storage pool of spent fuel. In short, as long as there is no madness, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will be very safe.