Fire extinguished at Ukraine nuclear plant after Russian attack
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 2 years ago • 6 commentsBy: Tim Stelloh and Evan Bush
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A fire that erupted in a training building at Europe's largest nuclear power plant amid heavy Russian shelling was extinguished, authorities said Friday.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement that there were no victims in the blaze, according to an NBC News translation. Ukrainian officials said the fire ignited at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after Russian troops opened fire on it.
"Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe," the foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said earlier on Twitter. "Fire has already broke out."
Kuleba added that if the plant, which holds six of the country's 15 reactors, explodes, it will be far worse than the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
In a video posted on Telegram, Andriy Tuz, a facility spokesperson, demanded that Russia stop shelling the plant and said there was a "real threat of nuclear danger," according to the Associated Press.
Speaking on local television, Tuz said that shells had set fire to one of the facility's six reactors, the AP reported. The unit is under renovation but has nuclear fuel inside and had been inaccessible to firefighters because they were being shot at, Tuz said, the AP reported.
The country's emergency services department later said there was a fire in a training building behind the plant, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said no "essential" equipment had been damaged.
The agency added that there was no change in radiation levels at the site.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with President Joe Biden and European leaders about what he described in a Telegram post as the potential "nuclear catastrophe" that the shelling could unleash.
"If there is an explosion it is the end for all of us," he said. "The end of Europe. "
In a summary of their call released by the White House, Biden urged "Russia to cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site."
What an attack on a nuclear power plant could mean for Ukraine
The development came one day after Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he was "gravely concerned" about the invasion of Ukraine.
"It is the first time a military conflict is happening amidst the facilities of a large, established nuclear power program," he said.
"I have called for restraint from all measures or actions that could jeopardize the security of nuclear and other radioactive material, and the safe operation of any nuclear facilities in Ukraine, because any such incident could have severe consequences, aggravating human suffering and causing environmental harm."
Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said it was "astonishing" that troops would apparently shell the facility, which has six reactors and spent fueling rods that need to remain cool.
A fire that damages the plant's electrical distribution system could impair its cooling systems and potentially trigger a meltdown — "what we saw at Fukushima," he said.
That process wouldn't be sudden, Lyman added, and emergency personnel might be able to halt potential damage. If fuel melted, it could trigger chemical reactions — including explosions — and breach the facility, prompting a release of radiation into the environment.
The site features diesel generators that could provide backup power to its cooling systems.
If those were not able to be operated and the site was in a total blackout, mobile fire trucks could be used to inject water into the core — something that was tried at Fukushima, Lyman said.
Lyman said that nuclear power plants — including those in Ukraine — have addressed vulnerabilities that were exposed by the 2011 disaster on Japan's northern coast.
While there's "certainly a lot of radioactive material" at the plant, Lyman said, it differed in key ways from Chernobyl, which blew off its confinement and sent radiation high into the atmosphere. Graphite at the site burned for days.
The reactors at the Zaporizhzhia plant are a different design, have a stronger containment structure and don't feature graphite. An "accident sequence" likely wouldn't "be as bad" as Chernoybl, he said.
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Putin doesn't give a shit about a nuclear disaster in Ukraine. It may even be part of Putin's idiotic plan.
Putin and the Russian army were warned about targeting Ukrainian reactors at the beginning of the invasion. Apparently those warning fell on deaf ears. If any of the top Russian generals have the balls, they need to confront Putin to stop this insanity.
Maybe Putin will have a timely "stroke".
Other than the fact that there wasn't a nuclear disaster. If they really didn't care they would have kept shelling until it did finally blow up.
If it was the Russians wouldn't have secured the facility; nor allow the fire fighters and other emergency personnel to put out the fires after it was secured. Taking and holding key things like power plants; main roads; and tactical facilities is what is done during an invasion. What I want to know is who were the dumb ass Ukrainians that thought that returning fire from a nuclear power plant was a good idea? Tracer rounds were shown going into and from the power plant. If the Ukrainians were really that concerned they would have told their army or militia to clear out. Instead of making the plant a target for intense shelling.
Still don't get it? This is war; no matter what the hell Putin decides to call it. Russia is going to secure every last damn tactical advantage possible. That means holding the means to produce power. Anyone invading another country would do the exact same damn thing!
Only if they had a death wish. Several Generals at the head of the Russian northern campaign debacle will likely be getting an early permanent retirement from Putin. Luckily for the whole world the soldiers fighting at the southern front out of Crimea are much better organized, trained, and obviously led; so no nuclear power plant meltdown.
People keep wishing Putin dead. Be careful of what you wish for; you might just get it. Putin built the entire Russian government system- after he watched weaker leaders before him fall after failing. He is still in charge in spite of having a very shaky military incursion record in Chechnya and Georgia. The person that takes Putin down will need to navigate that system better than Putin does; and will then have to take down Putin- who is the living embodiment of KGB training. Think someone like that isn't more dangerous than Putin?
If the Russians hadn't fired flares at the facility, there wouldn't have been a fire to put out.
It's nice to read the opinions of a Putin supporter.
Do you think it was a good idea for Russian tanks to fire on a nuclear facility?
The flares they shot could have damaged the cooling systems that prevent the six reactors there from melting down.
You said:
People keep wishing Putin dead. Be careful of what you wish for; you might just get it. Putin built the entire Russian government system- after he watched weaker leaders before him fall after failing.
I have no problem with weak Russian leaders failing.
I wonder what the total russian oligarch pool is up to now for clipping vlad, in US dollars...
Biden took a shit in that pool.
Now is the time to declare him a war criminal and put a very large bounty out on him. The girls who took out Kim's brother may be available.