Summary
The greatest increase in radiation has been recorded near the damaged nuclear reactor. Here the level of radiation is continuously monitored.
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Organizations monitoring the radiation coming from this area have told on Thursday that the radiation here has increased up to twenty times. But if experts are to be believed, the chances of another nuclear accident in this area are very less. According to Ukraine’s nuclear regulator, the recorded increase in radiation is due to the sudden increase in the movement of vehicles in this nuclear plant area spread over an area of 4000 square kilometers.
The biggest increase is near the damaged nuclear reactor
The greatest increase in radiation has been recorded near the damaged nuclear reactor. Here the level of radiation is continuously monitored. Here the amount of radiation is measured every hour. The reactor has to withstand up to three microsieverts of radiation per hour under normal conditions. But on Thursday that volume rose to 65 microsieverts per hour, five times the amount that would occur on a trans-Atlantic flight.
Professor Claire Corkhill, a nuclear materials specialist at the University of Sheffield, said the increase was concentrated in one place and also increased on the main roads leading to the reactor area. Professor Corkhil says that due to increased movement of vehicles and people in and around the Chernobyl zone, radioactive dust may have arisen.
He has also said that if there is no movement in the coming days, then the radiation level should drop. But any military activity in the region is worrying. The Ukrainian government has said Russian troops have captured the Chernobyl nuclear plant, some 130 kilometers north of the capital Kiev, after a fierce clash with Ukrainian troops.
Zelensky called it a war against Europe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukrainian soldiers fought to save it so that the tragedy of 1986 would not be repeated. He called the attack on the Chernobyl nuclear plant a declaration of war against the whole of Europe. There are several nuclear waste containment facilities at this nuclear plant, including the huge dome that has been named the ‘New Safe Containment’.
Inside this dome is the number four reactor, due to which there was a terrible nuclear accident in 1986 due to the explosion. Professor Corkhill said that these buildings were made to retain radioactive materials inside them. But they do not have any kind of armor and were not made for the battlefield. The radioactivity of this nuclear plant has decreased since 1986.
Professor Corkhil says that the leakage of radioactive substances in that incident was due to a fire. But she stresses that the chances of that nuclear accident repeating itself are slim. But even more worrying would be the start of conflict near other active plants in Ukraine.
Nuclear policy expert Professor James Acton has written that Chernobyl is located in a large area that is not a residential area. Other reactors in Ukraine are not in such isolated areas. Along with this, he says that nuclear power plants are not built with war zones in mind. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine has reported that all nuclear power reactors are operating safely.