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Wildfire threatens Chernobyl nuclear power plant

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chadskin

Member
Wildfires raged out of control Tuesday mere miles from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, threatening to release dangerous amounts of radiation over northern Ukraine.

Heavy gusts fueled the blaze inside the highly radioactive exclusion zone, the area around the plant that was evacuated after the 1986 blast, just 10 miles from defunct reactors and a mere three miles from a spent fuel repository, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook.
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After meeting with emergency workers, Yatsenyuk said the fire had not affected radiation levels in the area — yet.

"I have been informed that the situation is normal," he told journalists at Kyiv's Zhuliany airport, according to Interfax news service. "Our emergency services are actively working to stop the fire from spreading."

Yatsenyuk did, however, admit to Ukraine having a "catastrophic" shortage of emergency equipment to battle the fire.

"We need to have at least 12 helicopters for the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, but we only have two," he said.
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AP573041934728.jpg

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Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2c19WpbxIk
Full story: http://mashable.com/2015/04/28/forest-fires-near-chernobyl-ukraine/

Not good, not good at all.
 
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mernst23

Member
I like how the second containment dome is on stilts only hundreds of yards away from the crumbling sarcophagus, a lot of delays have arisen in the wake of the russian/ukraine conflict. If another release happens, it is completely russia's fault (again) and they should really get all the shit in the world for this.
 
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chadskin

Member
If it's confirmed one or more people committed arson - as Avakov indicated on FB: "Several outbreaks and on both sides of river" - the blame for the fire and anything worse that may happen will quickly shift to Russia directly.
 
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wanderingprostheyltite

Member
Well this can only end well...

stalker-call-of-pripyat-game.jpg
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In all seriousness this doesn't sound good. So is the reactor there still working or had been repaired at some point? I know the core is still a threat, just curious if it's in the same state it was after the first meltdown.
 
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Mr.Mike

Member
Somebody should probably send some helicopters to help out. Of course Russia would flip out if NATO sent helicopters, and the Ukrainians can't really accept Russian helicopters.
 
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Wilsongt

Member
Not good... I know of people who have done a lot of research on the disaster. If something else occurs, this would effect that research.
 
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kess

Member
IIRC, those woods were heavily contaminated, there's probably going to be some radioactive release from the smoke.

Belarus is no doubt concerned, almost the entire country got some irradiation during the meltdown.
 
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Savitar

Member
The wild life in the area has made a great come back in the last few years, especially with no people around so this is disappointing.
 
C

chadskin

Member
wanderingprostheyltite said:
In all seriousness this doesn't sound good. So is the reactor there still working or had been repaired at some point? I know the core is still a threat, just curious if it's in the same state it was after the first meltdown.
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The remains of Reactor No. 4 will remain radioactive for 1000 years. The isotope responsible for the majority of the external gamma radiation dose at the site is caesium-137, which has a half-life of about 30 years. Thus the radiation exposure from that radionuclide has almost declined to half of the original value right after the explosion. It is likely that no further decontamination work will take place until the gamma ray dosage at the site has returned to background levels in about 300 years. However, most of the alpha emitters are longer lived, and the soil and many surfaces in and around the plant are likely to remain contaminated with (uranium) fuel and transuranic metals such as plutonium and americium, which have much longer half-lives. It is planned that the reactor buildings will be disassembled as soon as it is safe to do so in terms of exposure to radiation; there are hopes that future technology will facilitate cleanup of those materials without having to await the long time for the radiation to fall to an acceptable level.
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tl;dr: It's very much a threat, that's why they invested a billion € into a new sarcophagus that will reduce the threat a bit and is scheduled to be put atop of reactor 3 and 4 this year:
2560px-New_Safe_Confinement.jpg
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A

antonz

Member
The whole war is getting out of control. Stronger stances should have been taken from the beginning. Sabotage and Terror Bombings are becoming increasingly common in Ukraine even hundreds of miles from any type of fighting. The Russians are intent on sowing terror throughout all of Ukraine.

The fact someone would even consider this kind of action shows just how fucked up this entire situation has become
 
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Burger_Baron

Member
I am too wondering if this is a threat or not. The thing was covered in tons of sement, and I don't think the sement would just "melt" due to the heat that the wildfire cause.

Of course, wildfires are not good thing altogether and containing it due to radiation might pose a problem.

Edit: I am no expert.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
mernst23 said:
I like how the second containment dome is on stilts only hundreds of yards away from the crumbling sarcophagus, a lot of delays have arisen in the wake of the russian/ukraine conflict. If another release happens, it is completely russia's fault (again) and they should really get all the shit in the world for this.
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Russia directly participated in blowing an airliner out of the sky with no real repercussions. This is far more abstract a concept, there's no chance they'll take any responsibility.
 
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Starfish_Oxide

Member
antonz said:
The whole war is getting out of control. Stronger stances should have been taken from the beginning. Sabotage and Terror Bombings are becoming increasingly common in Ukraine even hundreds of miles from any type of fighting. The Russians are intent on sowing terror throughout all of Ukraine.

The fact someone would even consider this kind of action shows just how fucked up this entire situation has become
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Do you seriously think the Russians did this?
 
A

antonz

Member
Starfish_Oxide said:
Do you seriously think the Russians did this?
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Why Would Ukrainians set a wildfire near Chernobyl that could potentially spread radiation over a huge chunk of Ukraine?

I mean its possible but Considering all the active terror cells the Russian Government is using in Ukraine. I would say Russia is a very likely candidate. A Nuclear Crisis which this would develop into if it gets as bad as it can would be like a green light for Russia to suddenly flood over the border to "help" in this dire time of spreading radiation.
 
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littleworm

Member
Burger_Baron said:
I am too wondering if this is a threat or not. The thing was covered in tons of sement, and I don't think the sement would just "melt" due to the heat that the wildfire cause.

Of course, wildfires are not good thing altogether and containing it due to radiation might pose a problem.

Edit: I am no expert.
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This risk isn't that the plant itself would catch on fire, but that the forest around it is heavily irradiated. When the trees catch fire a lot of radioactive smoke will be kicked up into the atmosphere and spread across the continent.
 
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Starfish_Oxide

Member
antonz said:
Why Would Ukrainians set a wildfire near Chernobyl that could potentially spread radiation over a huge chunk of Ukraine?

I mean its possible but Considering all the active terror cells the Russian Government is using in Ukraine. I would say Russia is a very likely candidate
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I'd say the actions of a lone arsonist with no connections to any party in the war in Ukraine is far more likely than any state actor. I'd also imagine that the radiation would spread over a large part of Russia and Belarus also, wind depending of course.
 
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IdreamofHIME

Member
Why is no one covering this? The only chernobyl story i saw this week was the girl "proving" there's no radiation by eating apples growing there and filming a fox making a bacon sandwich.
 
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Iacobellis

Junior Member
JordanN said:
There's a Chernobyl level in Call of Duty 4.

I assume it's a joke.
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I hate to bring video games into a topic like this, but I think a game that takes place before and during the accident would be amazing. Would definitely put a new perspective on the situation rather than just portraying the ghost town aspect of it.

Anyways, this is bad. Delays after delays have been common regarding all of this since 1986. Hiding it from the public, keeping the plant running until December 2000, the new sarcophagus taking years to build, etc..

I always had a feeling that at least one more event regarding Chernobyl/Pripyat would take place in today's world.
 
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AstroNut325

Member
littleworm said:
This risk isn't that the plant itself would catch on fire, but that the forest around it is heavily irradiated. When the trees catch fire a lot of radioactive smoke will be kicked up into the atmosphere and spread across the continent.
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I believe this is the risk as well.
 
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Kallor

Member
What a mess for that entire area.

Russia's also having a wonderful year with wildfire and its not even summer yet. fires in Siberia even causing "dramatic sunsets" in the pacific north west, they've already had a 50000+ acre fire (are they still fighting that one?) 23 people dead from similar fires in other areas, a local news reporter had tossed a cig in a wildfire area which ended up starting something (?)

And Chernobyl is gonna be screwed into to being a good setting for video games and little else for ever after this lol.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Wait, how did the fire start, and on both sides of the river?

Crap this is bad, there's some current research on how the radiation has changed the wildlife, this is going to put in jeopardy that investigation. Not to mention that whole radioactive material going into the atmosphere.

I know there are poachers in the area, but this is just fishy, considering it's on both sides of the river. This is definitely something the international community should help with.

Chanser said:
When we're all dead.
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More like when our great-great grandchildren are dead.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
chadskin said:
tl;dr: It's very much a threat, that's why they invested a billion € into a new sarcophagus that will reduce the threat a bit and is scheduled to be put atop of reactor 3 and 4 this year:
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I forgot that they called it a 'sarcophagus'.

Fuck.
 
C

chadskin

Member
Conspiracy theories go both ways:

While the online reaction in Kyiv was one of panicked concern, the response from separatist-held eastern Ukraine was slightly more bizarre. According to a conspiracy theory from one pro-separatist news website, the Ukrainian government may have started the wildfire as a “provokatsiya” (provocation, roughly equating to a “false flag”) in order to extract financial assistance from the European Union, representatives of which had recently visited Kyiv.
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http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/04/29/chernobyl-is-burning-but-whos-to-blame/
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
chadskin said:
tl;dr: It's very much a threat, that's why they invested a billion € into a new sarcophagus that will reduce the threat a bit and is scheduled to be put atop of reactor 3 and 4 this year:
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Is this being assembled at the plant or is this mobile and can somehow be rolled to the plant?
 
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