Fire burning near Chernobyl

Raging forest infernos in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone burning for eight days are now 'close' to exploded nuclear reactor amid new fears of radiation contamination
Wildfires burning through Chernobyl forests are nearing the nuclear reactor
There are fears that flames could reach radioactive trucks and vehicles abandoned after the notorious 1986 power station explosion
Kiev has deployed more than 300 people and 85 pieces of equipment

Source

#Chernobyl right now fires reported already in the plant zone, only 500m from Unit 4 nuclear reactor. Photo
@guardian

twitter.com...

Firefighters battle massive flames near disused #Chernobyl nuclear plant. Authorities insist the fire poses no risk to the public, though the state ecological inspector claims radiation readings are now 16 times higher than normal within the bushfire area

twitter.com...

Interesting thread here twitter.com...

It's worse than just that.

I recall hearing on a documentary on the place that because of the ambient radiation, the leaf litter doesn't decay normally. The bacteria that would usually eat the leaves isn't present like it should be. So you have piles and piles of fallen leaves in the forests around Chernobyl just waiting to create a radioactive cloud of forest fire debris. All that fuel has just been sitting there waiting to burn, and the contamination underneath it is, of course, still hot.

That is truly scary.
I saw on the last Twitter link I posted that the concrete encasement of the reactor has decayed quite a bit.
Today was the first I had heard of this, I suppose the virus news has taken over a lot of other reporting.

Edit: it has decayed but was over encased. However, 3 other reactors that are there are not encased at all.
Shut down in 2000 but still in the process of being decommissioned.

Also a Facebook group : www.facebook.com...


a reply to: ketsuko

Well Hell! Why not?

Pandemic, world basically shut down, locust invasion in parts of the world .. let’s toss in a potential nuclear option in the mix and make it really frightening for the masses.
Jeez...I don’t belong on this planet anymore

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Man Made... per OP source.

Police said the blaze broke out after a man set fire to dry grass near the exclusion zone. The man was detained by Ukrainian police.  

a reply to: Bigburgh

I am not going to assume it was maliciousness. This is the time of year when farmers typically burn off their pastures for spring.

Yeah that is so odd, I wonder if it was on purpose or just land clearing. Seems dangerous to do so close to this dangerous zone.
a reply to: Bigburgh

originally posted by: cirrus12
Yeah that is so odd, I wonder if it was on purpose or just land clearing. Seems dangerous to do so close to this dangerous zone.
a reply to: Bigburgh

You'd be surprised at how many people still live in the that zone because they either refused to leave or moved back. It was their home and they don't care about the risk of radiation and increased cancer chances. So they carry on as they were before the disaster.

And apparently it's sort of hit or miss as to where the really hot spots are outside the area immediately outside the plant.

welp there goes any chance of a good night sleep tonight...

Is this year over yet...

There are also many people living a simple peasant lifestyle illegally in the exclusion zone. Possibly it was an old man from among them who set the fire by accident?
I have seen the same documentaries about how the leaf litter around Chernobyl does not decay, but dries up and sits on the forest floor, like a radioactive tinder box waiting for a spark.
Since the meltdown, during each successive season of growth, the trees have pulled radiation from the soil and into the leaves, which then fall to the ground and do not decay. This has a net effect of keeping the radiation on the surface, perhaps even DRAWING it to the surface. The documentary addressed the possibility that someday a forest fire could re-release catastrophic amounts of radiation back into the atmosphere.
Well, here we are.

It's unclear from various news sources whether it was intentional or not.

As of now, an official cause has yet to be determined, though it appears the fires didn’t start from natural causes. Last week, the Guardian reported that police arrested a 27-year-old suspect who told authorities he set fire to the grass “for fun,” though no developments have been reported. According to the Times, it’s also possible that a farmer deliberately started a fire to clear stubble from surrounding fields.

www.thecut.com...

The Kyiv police have identified a man who allegedly started a mass fire in the uninhabited exclusion zone around the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant last week.

The police said on April 6 that a 27-year-old resident of the Rahivka village told investigators that he had set some garbage and grass on fire "for fun."

Police launched a probe into the destruction of forestry, an offense which can be punished with hefty fines or imprisonment for up to five years.

The young man, whose identity was not disclosed, has not yet been officially charged.

www.rferl.org...

Folks, if they could put out a fire which was basically un-extinguishable at the reactor, a fire so hot it could ignite pure steel and non-flammable objects, then they can put out a pesky little forest fire!!

Nothing to see here, move along.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Heh,, then what's California's excuse every season?

And what next?

"Okay the COVID-19 thing is now over, but NOW you need to stay inside because of the radioactive plume overhead from a forest fire next to Chernobyl!"

Oh, and BTW...you can catch both COVID-19 AND get radiation sickness by posting on ATS!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Maybe if they drop a bunch of bombs on it and shoot the debris clear up in the atmosphere so that it gets very widely dispersed ...

a reply to: ketsuko

Two things...

1. Notice those fires never get near any critical infrastructure "Kalifornia" doesn't want to have burned up? I'm not saying things like homes, or power plants, I'm talking about things like the governor's mansion, or Nancy Pelosi's house! And...

2. Notice those fires never interfere with the issues "Kalifornia" pleads for federal aid for on the public stage every day???

When was the last time you heard about a wildfire in "Kalifornia" killing thousands of homeless, or illegal aliens??

I'll answer...NEVER! They protect these people more than they do their own taxpaying citizens...because they are the GRAVY TRAIN!!

SCREW KALIFORNIA!

Oh boy! I can't wait to see what next year looks like!

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Bigburgh

I am not going to assume it was maliciousness. This is the time of year when farmers typically burn off their pastures for spring.

Good point. He started the fire near the exclusion zone.

He very well may have been doing it for his farm. The winds may have done the rest

Edit: Location, copy paste on gaggle maps or earth.
51.3314523, 30.0962003

While obviously this isn't ideal, what exactly do people think is gonna happen here?

A fraction of the total radiation output of the disaster may be re-released into the atmosphere. If the original disaster didn't poison the whole planet, this isn't going to either.

People in the area obviously need to be concerned, but those of us who live thousands of miles away do not need to worry about this.

a reply to: ketsuko

30 years later article.


www.wired.com...

The reindeer live in southern and central Norway, where they graze on lichen and fungus—two things that ravenously absorbed the fallout of Chernobyl. As a result, many of the animals contain levels of radioactivity far beyond the European Union limit for consumption. That troubling for the Sami, an indigenous population that relies upon them for sustenance.

Yikes