After heavy fighting, the Russian army captured the permanently closed nuclear power plant in Chernobyl on February 24, the first day of the invasion. Since then, a group of 210 technicians and security guards has been kept on site. According to the latest reports from the Ukrainian side, the power supply to the nuclear power plant is said to have failed today and emergency generators have therefore been switched on.
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Rest, food and drink
“I am deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing the staff of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” Rafael Grossi, chief executive of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned yesterday in a statement† Grossi emphasizes how important it is for ‘overall nuclear safety’ that nuclear power plant personnel are able to rest sufficiently, work in regular shifts and receive enough food, drink and possibly medicines.
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What happens in a nuclear power plant?
A nuclear power plant is basically a plant that generates electricity with the energy released during nuclear fission. A nuclear power plant works like a kind of steam engine, except that no coal or gas is used, but uranium. This process produces radioactive substances and ultimately radioactive waste.
This waste is harmful to people and the environment and remains dangerous for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. So it must be stored securely. Nuclear power plant maintenance workers are protected from radiation and train for their work in a simulator. Being on maintenance strict rules connected.
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You can compare a nuclear power station with a factory that has to be kept running by hundreds of people, says Jan Leen Kloosterman, professor of nuclear reactor physics at TU Delft. “Even when there is a standstill for maintenance, for example, all kinds of business processes continue, such as maintaining the pumps and cooling. The fission process has then stopped, but even then there are still people walking around to keep things running and safe.”
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Biggest nuclear disaster ever
Nuclear power stations carry serious risks. In the event of major disasters such as damage, earthquakes or gross human errors, dangerous amounts of radioactive radiation can be released. The best-known example is still the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl on April 26, 1986.
Human error and non-compliance with safety regulations caused a fire in nuclear reactor 4 and then an explosion, which after an indomitable chain reaction caused a cloud of radioactive smoke for days. Thirty people died during the disaster, including many rescuers, from radiation sickness.
More than 35 years later, the number of long-term victims is estimated at 30,000 to 60,000† In Ukraine, Belarus and Russia in particular, the greatly increased radiation dose has led to thousands of cases of leukemia, thyroid cancer, immune system malfunctions and hereditary diseases. The disaster area itself grew into a tourist attraction, which was further fueled by hit series Chernobyl from HBO from 2019.
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Active exchange conquered
On Friday, the Russians also captured an active nuclear power plant in Ukraine for the first time. It concerns the southern Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, with six active nuclear reactors the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
During the fighting, a fire broke out on the site, which could be extinguished by emergency services. The main components of the nuclear power plant were unaffected and the radiation level in the area remained unchanged. In the Netherlands, the RIVM says the situation to constantly monitor. According to the Nuclear Netherlands association, part of the six Zaporizhzhya nuclear reactors shut down.
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‘No radiation in the Netherlands’
According to the Dutch regulator, the Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS), there is no acute danger to people in the Netherlands. “We would like to emphasize that an accident at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine cannot lead to radiation levels in the Netherlands that require immediate measures such as evacuation, shelter or taking iodine tablets. The distance from the Netherlands to Ukraine is so great that this is not necessary.”
During the nuclear disaster of 1986, the radiation level in the Netherlands was very slightly elevated. “That was a very serious accident scenario with an older and more unsafe type of nuclear power plant than the one in Zaporizhzhya. The radiation level in the Netherlands then amounted to a dose that corresponds to the natural dose that people in the Netherlands take from the air and soil in one to two weeks. homes and food have already been received anyway, so there was no reason in Western Europe to evacuate people at the time.”
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According to nuclear physicist Kloosterman, it is currently difficult to obtain a reliable picture of the safety of nuclear power stations in Ukraine. “We know that all nuclear power plants are Russian-made. Chernobyl nuclear reactor four is encased in a steel shell and the other three reactors have been decommissioned.”
There, under professional supervision, fissile material is still stored, the raw material for generating nuclear energy, while guards protect the site. Kloosterman: “Once all the nuclear fuel has gone to an underground storage bunker, for example, there will be no more radioactive deposits on the site itself. Except in the reactor that was destroyed.”
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