The war situation is changing rapidly, the shells are not long-sighted, and the Russian and Ukrainian armies are fighting around the nuclear power plant, which is really not reassuring.
Original
Two days ago, Ukraine's National Energy Corporation announced that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had been completely cut off.
As soon as the news came out, it aroused global attention.
Why is the Chernobyl nuclear power plant the biggest hidden danger of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict?
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in the former Soviet Union and is located more than 100 kilometers north of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
On April 26, 1986, the reactor of Unit 4 of the nuclear power plant exploded.
Condition after the explosion of the reactor in Unit 4
According to statistics, the radiation line released by the explosion of nuclear reactors is more than 400 times the dose of the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima during World War II.
The consequences are extremely serious.
In the seven years since the accident, 7,000 clean-up workers have died. Of the workers involved in medical rescue, 40 per cent suffer from mental illness or permanent memory loss.
Today, of the 834,000 people involved in the rescue effort, 55,000 have lost their lives and more than 300,000 have died of radiation injuries.
This is undoubtedly the worst nuclear power accident in human history, and the first major accident to be rated as the seventh level of the international nuclear incident classification scale.
Fortunately, the half-life of the radioactive isotopes released by the explosion is relatively short. With the passage of time, the local radiation level has dropped significantly compared with that year, and most areas are still relatively safe.
The most dangerous is the No. 4 nuclear reactor.
The sarcophagus was first sealed with cement, and then a large sealing cover was added to the sarcophagus.
Seal cover for the Chernobyl nuclear reactor
In 2000, the other three reactors at the plant were also permanently shut down. At this point, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was completely abandoned.
Abandoned, not abandoned.
After all, about 180 tons of uranium dioxide and nuclear waste are also stored here.
If a large-scale leak occurs again, Ukraine will once again be plunged into disaster.
So the Ukrainian government has been keeping a close eye on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
In early April 2020, a forest fire broke out in the area near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and the fire gradually approached the nuclear reactor that had exploded.
In an emergency, Ukraine organized thousands of firefighters to participate in the rescue. Ukrainian President Zelenskiy also personally inspected the fire by helicopter.
Fire spread Image source: Red Star News
Fortunately, the fire was later extinguished.
Like Ukraine, Russia is concerned about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
When Russia attacks Ukraine, the most important thing is to "protect" the nuclear power plant from harm.
The reasoning is also very simple.
Although Russia is fighting with Ukraine with real guns and guns, it is still very restrained in terms of the intensity of the fighting, especially to minimize the harm to civilians.
Russia's intention to control the intensity of the war should be to promote negotiations and win victory at the negotiating table.
Russian-Ukrainian negotiations
If the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is damaged by war, resulting in a nuclear leak, the trouble will be great.
On the one hand, nuclear spills and contamination will endanger Russia itself and the rest of Europe.
On the other hand, the bad impact will go beyond the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, causing the situation to get out of control and ultimately detrimental to the realization of Russia's strategic goal of "promoting talks with fights."
One thing to worry about is to beware of people fishing in muddy waters, taking advantage of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, sabotaging nuclear power plants, or stealing nuclear waste to create radioactive bombs.
None of this is what Russia wants.
Therefore, after the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian army moved south from the Border of Belarus and quickly captured the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Interestingly, the Russian airborne forces captured an independent battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard guard guarding the nuclear power plant, but reached an agreement with the latter to jointly guarantee the safety of the nuclear power plant.
Russian and Ukrainian soldiers work together to protect the nuclear power plant
Therefore, there is a strange scene: Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in different military uniforms, armed with weapons, but in the same room, quietly watching the surveillance video.
On the protection of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Russia and Ukraine stand in agreement.
But no one expected that the nuclear power plant jointly protected by Russia and Ukraine would suddenly lose power.
Press releases
The countries of the world were astonished.
Why does the power outage affect the safety of nuclear power plants?
That's because, although the reactor has stopped operating, there is still a lot of uranium-238 and uranium-235 fuel left inside.
These nuclear materials continue to produce decay heat, and when the heat is high, it will cause the reactor core to fuse and radioactive material to leak out.
Electricity is used to maintain 24-hour continuous cooling, as well as ventilation and fire extinguishing systems.
According to Ukraine's State Energy Company, about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies in Chernobyl could not keep cooling after the blackout.
Some radioactive material leaks form radioactive clouds that are carried by the wind to various European countries, posing a serious risk of nuclear contamination.
As soon as the news came out, the whole world was shocked.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stood up to reassure everyone, saying that the heat load and cooling water volume of the Chernobyl spent fuel storage tank were enough to effectively drain heat, and the power outage had no significant impact on safety.
However, this statement does not completely dispel the concerns of various countries.
In the end, it was Russia that stood up to refute the rumors.
Russia confirmed the fact of the power outage and explained the reasons.
It turned out that Ukrainian nationalists had attacked the lines and substations that powered the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, causing the plant to lose power.
Fortunately, Russia quickly took measures to switch to a backup diesel generator to power the power station.
At present, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has solved the problem of power supply.
Now it seems that it is a false alarm.
However, this exposes a problem: the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is the biggest hidden danger of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
In "How did the Ukrainian Nazi organization that Putin most wanted to eradicate disrupt Hong Kong?" In the article, the Bureau of Liberation introduced the Nazi organization in Ukraine, the Azov Battalion.
Although Russia did not name the Azov battalion that attacked the power supply lines and substations of nuclear power plants, this organization is extremely vicious and unscrupulous, and it is likely to fish in muddy waters and make a fuss about nuclear power plants.
Had to be defensive.