Ukraine: Fire Breaks Out at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant After Shelling
March 3rd, 2022Update: Fire Extinguished [???]
Via: Reuters:
Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after a building at the complex was set ablaze during intense fighting with Ukrainian defenders, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday.
Fears of a potential nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia plant had spread alarm across world capitals, before authorities said the fire in a building identified as a training centre, had been extinguished.
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Via: DW:
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted, “Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Fire has already broke out.”
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Ukraine’s energy ministry told Russia’s RIA news agency that firefighters are unable to tend to the blaze at the plant as Russian troops continue to fire on them.
Plant spokesman Andry Tuz said shells were striking the plant and one of the six reactors was on fire. He said the reactor that was hit was under renovation and therefore nonoperational.
Tuz said it was imperative to cease fighting so firefighters could contain the blaze.
Dmytro Humenyuk of the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety told Hromadske that the power units have several layers of fuel protection. The plant generates 25% of Ukraine’s electricity.
Humenyuk explained that under certain conditions, the power units can withstand up to 10 tons but are not designed to be hit by bombs or projectiles. If the reactor is seriously damaged and nuclear fuel exposed, the resulting catastrophe would be as bad as Chernobyl and if more than one reactor is hit, the result would be even more horrific.
Damned good luck they hit the nonoperational reactor. Gunner must be an alumni of the Hani Hanjour school of collateral damage mitigation.
Yes, and in a classic example of the pupil exceeding the master, the “Russian” gunner put in a warning call 15 minutes prior to firing, to the clandestine workshop of forensic auditors located in the office building of the shuttered reactor, who were investigating (fled) energy oligarch’s alleged substandard fuel rods being the cause of the shuttering. The auditing team all made it to safety, but unfortunately all evidence that could support a continuing investigation was utterly and completely annihilated and burned to a crisp.