Vehicles can kick up radioactive dust and fighting risks igniting a wildfire in the exclusion zone
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.
Apart from a handful of industrial areas, most of the exclusion zone is completely isolated from human activity and appears almost normal. In some areas, where radiation levels have dropped over time, plants and animals have returned in significant numbers. The power plant site also houses the main electrical grid switching network for the entire region. It’s possible to turn the lights off in Kyiv from here, even though the power plant itself has not generated any electricity since 2000, when the last of Chernobyl’s four reactors was shut down. Such control over the power supply likely has strategic importance, although Kyiv’s electrical needs could probably also be supplied via other nodes on the Ukrainian national power grid.
Radiation monitoring stations across the Chernobyl zone recorded the first obvious environmental impact of the invasion. Sensors put in place by the Ukrainian Chernobyl EcoCenter in case of accidents or forest fires showed dramatic jumps in radiation levels along major roads and next to the reactor facilities starting after 9 p.m on Feb. 24, 2022. That’s when Russian invaders reached the area from neighboring Belarus.
But the Russian soldiers, as well as the Ukrainian power plant workers who have been held hostage, undoubtedly inhaled some of the blowing dust. Researchers know the dirt in the Chernobyl exclusion zone can contain radionuclides including cesium-137, strontium-90, several isotopes of plutonium and uranium, and americium-241. Even at very low levels, they’re all toxic, carcinogenic or both if inhaled.
Österreich Neuesten Nachrichten, Österreich Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Kremlin says Russian military action will stop ‘in a moment’ if Ukraine meets conditionsRussia is demanding that Ukraine cease military action, change its constitution to enshrine neutrality, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory and recognise the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent territories, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Weiterlesen »
Editorial: Misinformation is blocking climate action, and the U.N. is finally calling it outA landmark U.N. climate report this week broke new ground by finally highlighting the role of misinformation in obstructing action, singling out the United States as hotspot.
Weiterlesen »
Zelenskyy launches daily calls to action with Global CitizenUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has an unusual new partner in his campaign to defend his country — Global Citizen, the international nonprofit fighting extreme poverty.
Weiterlesen »
Zelenskyy launches daily calls to action with Global CitizenUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has an unusual new partner in his campaign to defend his country — Global Citizen, the international nonprofit fighting extreme poverty.
Weiterlesen »