Radioactive leak at major Ukrainian nuclear plant

A radioactive leak has been detected at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, a media report says, citing the country’s emergency services. The report claims that levels of radiation are 16 times the legally permitted norm. LifeNews published a leaked report by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, which denies an earlier assessment by the plant’s authorities that the radiation at the facility is equal to the natural background following an incident on Sunday.

rt.com...

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en.wikipedia.org...



scary stuff, this story is developing.. 16 times the legally permitted norm?
- I wonder if the operators of the facility will be transparent about developments? After Fuki somehow I doubt it..

a reply to: canucks555

I wonder if the operators of the facility will be transparent about developments? After Fuki somehow I doubt it..

I do hope they will be more transparent... I cant believe it though..... it seems like this is happening way too often.

I don't know if the operators will be transparent, but they will probably be glowing.

On a serious note though, I see there was an accident there last Friday and this is probably the result of the accident. I notice on the comments page of the report of the accident on RT some are claiming it' she fact that the Ukranians are using US rods instead of Russian rods.

Can someone with any knowledge on Nuclear reactors advise what the differences are and what the consequences of using US rods would have on the reactor?

I worked within the Nuclear Reactor at Hinckley Point in the early 90's as a contractor and we had to wear counter devices, which once they reached a certain level, we had to remove ourselves from the reactor and not return for the day. As a contractor we could only be exposed to 50% of the radiation levels the staff who worked there were permitted to be exposed to, which I found strange at the time, but being young and chasing the money, didn't question. Can anybody explain why this is the case? Personally I thought it would be the reverse.

The radiation levels are still very low even at 16 times norm.


On Sunday, one reactor at the plant was automatically shut down after a glitch, becoming the second halt in operations in recent weeks. The reactor was running at 40 percent of nominal power, the plant's official website said, adding that radiation at the facility being at the level of 8-12 microroentgens an hour.

I remember reading somewhere that some European cities have microroentgen levels around 20 just from radiation in the rocks.
When the numbers become rads and not micro rads, thats when you need to be concerned.

Just for reference, An exposure of 500 roentgens (~5 Sv) in five hours is usually lethal for human beings.
Thats 500,000 microroentgen

I feel sorry for Ukraine as they have inherited some really terrible ex Soviet facilities. Chernobyl was a soviet installation.

Let's hope Ukraine are able to resolve this issues and no harm done.

Regards

The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Station is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the fifth largest in the world.
en.wikipedia.org...

It could be worse than what they are telling us.

How the hell does a "glitch" release the poison anyways?
Maybe venting steam? If the containment facilities have been compromised they had better tell the world how and exactly what's going on...

"electrical glitch? doesn't cut it...

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
The radiation levels are still very low even at 16 times norm.


On Sunday, one reactor at the plant was automatically shut down after a glitch, becoming the second halt in operations in recent weeks. The reactor was running at 40 percent of nominal power, the plant's official website said, adding that radiation at the facility being at the level of 8-12 microroentgens an hour.

I remember reading somewhere that some European cities have microroentgen levels around 20 just from radiation in the rocks.
When the numbers become rads and not micro rads, thats when you need to be concerned.

Just for reference, An exposure of 500 roentgens (~5 Sv) in five hours is usually lethal for human beings.
Thats 500,000 microroentgen

Thanks for that, seems a lot of fuss about nothing. Probably just Russian propaganda.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978


You never know what the real truth is, but when somebody says radiation minds are lost.

If anti matter technology was only focus-able and manageable, you could just release a anti matter sphere already calculated to eliminate so much matter based on the energy input to the sphere and release it over spills and waste areas and it would be no more damage then a spherical hole... Good luck Ukrain.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

Isn't this the truth. I've seen people that were normally as level headed as you'll see freak out over the R word.

Probably just Russian propaganda.

The source (RT) has been known to go that route...
-But if the story is true then it could be a problem.

Sounds like Fukishima has desensatized some folks.
If it isn't three billion rads then it's not newsworthy?
These things are built to contain ALL of the radiation. Not 99.99%
All of it.
So where is it leaking out?

a reply to: canucks555

And like everything else, they break. Seals go bad, steam lines crack, etc. I'm far from desensitized, I just don't lose my mind when I hear Radiation. Certainly not levels this low.