American nuclear fuel in Ukraine risks provoking second Chernobyl - scientists
25 April 2014, 17:54 -- The use of US-made fuel in nuclear power plants in Ukraine may lead to emergencies comparable in scale to the Chernobyl disaster, a group of veteran atomic scientists announced Friday.
The use of US-made fuel in Soviet-designed reactors in Ukraine does not meet safety standards, the International Union of Veterans of Nuclear Energy and Industry said.
'We believe that it is a miracle that the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant had not yet faced any accident because of this fuel,' the statement said. The use of the Westinghouse fuel in the Ukrainian reactors was considered irresponsible and cynical by the industry veterans.
The Ukrainian state enterprise Energoatom and the Westinghouse Company previously agreed to extend the contract for the supply of US nuclear fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants until 2020.
A Czech nuclear power plant faced depressurization of the fuel elements produced by Westinghouse several years ago, followed by the Czech government abandoning the company as a fuel supplier.
'This decision is cynical due to the fact that it was made almost on the eve of the sorrowful date a?? the 28th anniversary of the global accident at Chernobyl, which occurred as a result of a similar irresponsible experiment on the active reactor,' the nuclear scientists stressed, RIA reports.
Chernobyl radiation shield construction under threat amid Ukraine crisis
The construction of a contamination shield at the damaged Chernobyl nuclear power plant could be delayed amid the ongoing political crisis in Ukraine, the CEO of aid agency Chernobyl Children International told the Irish Independent, according to RIA Novosti.
'What can never be forgotten is that the destruction caused by the deadly explosion at Reactor Number 4 at Chernobyl was triggered by the release of just 3 percent of the radioactive material in the plant, the remaining 97 percent of this enormous ticking time bomb of highly unstable nuclear material is still inside the crumbling Chernobyl complex,' Adi Roche said.
Work on the contamination shield, the largest of its kind in the world, was due to be completed by October 2015 but the turbulent political situation in Ukraine has cast doubt on the project's progress. Roche said that the work could be delayed by up to two years, adding that it is essential the international community understand the risks posed by the delay.
'The world has very real reasons to be extremely concerned about the ongoing threat Chernobyl poses, especially at a time of great instability and growing hostility' in Ukraine, Roche said.
An explosion at one of the power plant's nuclear reactors in 1986 led to the worst nuclear disaster in world history, affecting the lives of millions of people. Vast areas, mainly in the three Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, were contaminated by the fallout from the critical nuclear meltdown, with some 200,000 people relocated following the accident.
Workers built a temporary shield over the damaged reactor soon after the disaster, called a sarcophagus. In 2010, work on the new shied started. The primary aim of the project, estimated to cost nearly 1.5 billion euro, is to prevent further leakage at the crippled reactor.
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