It is reported that on the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which on February 24 was taken under the full control of the units of the Russian Airborne Forces, the station personnel continue to service the facilities in the normal mode. The radioactive background is normal. But experts are sounding the alarm. A number of sensors showed an increase in the dose rate of gamma radiation, in some cases – more than 30 times – from 2 μSv / h to 65. We talked with an engineer-physicist, an expert of the Russian Social and Environmental Union Andrei Ozharovsky.
– On the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, monitoring systems are operating, one of which on February 24 showed a significant increase in the power of gamma radiation. In one place – 30 times, in others – dozens of times, – says Andrey Ozharovsky. — It was 2 µSv/h and suddenly it became 65 µSv/h. One would assume that there was a sensor failure. But some of the sensors also showed an increase in dose rate, while others did not. So there could be a leak.
The expert recalls that tanks also approached the Krsko nuclear power plant, which is located on the border of Slovenia and Croatia, during the civil war in Yugoslavia.
– But then heavy equipment was not included in the industrial site of the station, as it happened now at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This is the first time an atomic object has been taken without a fight.
The servicemen of a separate battalion of protection of the nuclear power plant of Ukraine did not show resistance to the Russian paratroopers. There was no shootout or damage to objects. The station is now double guarded. This is a guarantee that neither nationalists nor terrorists will enter the Chernobyl territory to organize a nuclear provocation.
So the Ukrainian side notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the station did not receive any damage. However, the State Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Ukraine reported that an excess of the control levels of the dose rate of gamma radiation was recorded in the exclusion zone. Experts from Ecocenter linked this to Russian tanks. He explained that heavy equipment could break the topsoil and raise contaminated radioactive dust into the air.
– Tanks could, of course, drive into the forest during maneuvers, although why? If there was no resistance? If it’s all about heavy equipment, all this dust “from under the hooves”, and the increase in sensor readings is due to the movement of radionuclides in the environment, and not leakage from already buried, controlled objects, this is the best scenario for everyone. Well, they lifted up the dust, who breathed in – that, of course, is bad. Here it is necessary to use personal protective equipment. But still, this is not a leak that can continue and intensify. But I do not understand why the State Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Ukraine pretends that they control the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Their specialists, as far as I understand, are not at the station now.
Andrey Ozharovsky recalls that the reactors – 1, 2 and 3 power units – are now at the stage of decommissioning. The fourth, on which an accident occurred in 1986, is covered with a sarcophagus. Also at the nuclear power plant there are storage facilities for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. All this requires care and attention.
The expert does not rule out that the increase in sensor readings may be due to the fact that the station personnel simply ceased to perform their duties. And some security system became inoperable.
– In the morning it became clear that Belarus did not miss the train with the employees of the station, which followed from Slavutych. This was told by video blogger Alexander Kupny, a resident of Slavutych, who himself worked at the station as a dosimetrist. Station workers live in a “clean” place and travel to work by train. And then they wrapped all the shift personnel. It just so happened that part of the railroad tracks passes through the territory of Belarus. There is a small “finger”, “squiggle” there. Everyone has always turned a blind eye to this. No one disputed the border. There were no border controls. It’s just that the train never stopped there, and even more so, the driver never opened the doors.
But the same blogger Alexander Kupny later said that the personnel did not get to the nuclear power plant because the railway bridge was destroyed. Adding: “For strategic purposes.” A shift is now working at the Chernobyl NPP, which has not been changed. Alexander Kupny mentioned that there is a canteen at the station, sanitary checkpoints are working, everything is calm.
But what about the increase in the dose rate of gamma radiation, which is shown by individual sensors?
One of the workers of the station said that the staff of the “Ecocenter”, which serves the automated radiation monitoring system ASKRO DAZV, was evacuated. And this system is now unattended. Therefore, her testimony cannot be trusted. The ARMS system at the Chernobyl site remains in operation, which is maintained and operates in the normal mode. Data from it can be viewed on the Chernobyl website. All readings are normal.
– Was there a threat that a “dirty” bomb could be made in Ukraine? – we are interested in Andrey Ozharovsky.
— You have to understand that a “dirty bomb” is not some kind of device. The entire Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, in fact, was a “dirty” bomb. The same is true of Fukushima in 2011. This term has become popular at the suggestion of journalists, experts are talking about radiological weapons. It is the spraying of dangerous radioactive substances into the environment. Yes, “dirty” bombs were tested here in the 1950s on one of the islands in Lake Ladoga. But as a result, it became clear that an increased dose and internal radiation cannot kill soldiers on the battlefield. The clinic of even acute radiation sickness manifests itself within 10-14 days. That is, a soldier can still hold a machine gun. Yes, he can bleed from his nose, have bloody diarrhea. But he doesn’t die instantly. And then the area becomes contaminated. As a result, attempts to create radiological weapons failed. It was decided to abandon the “dirty” bomb because of its inefficiency, I believe, and unethical. It is not in service with any country.
I think that Ukraine is not interested in the use of radiological weapons either, for one simple reason: not enemy soldiers will suffer, but civilians. All this talk about a “dirty” bomb is just informational noise. Besides, in order to start developing nuclear weapons, it is necessary to withdraw not from the Budapest Memorandum, but from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. This is what North Korea did. Ukraine did not do this.
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