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Russian forces’ occupation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine is the first military-provoked crisis at a civilian power plant in the annals of nuclear energy. This situation requires leadership and ideas urgently. Disaster mitigation and military strategy must be balanced in order to avoid dire consequences.

In recent weeks, Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of shelling the plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early March. Fires caused by shelling have disrupted power lines to the facility, causing the last working reactor at the plant to be disconnected from the grid on September 5th.…  Seguir leyendo »

As the war in Ukraine continues, further shelling of the Zaporizhzhia power plant prompts fresh concerns over nuclear safety in the region.

Zaporizhzhia, one of the world’s largest nuclear power stations, is situated on the southern bank of the Dnipro River and, as of early August, in a region controlled by Russian military forces. Within days of the start of the war, Russian forces sought to take control of nuclear facilities in the north of Ukraine (Chernobyl) and in the southeast at Zaporizhzha. The unprecedented attack on Zaporizhzhia was followed by a military takeover of the facility on the 4th of March.  Despite the military confrontation, Ukrainian staff have continued to operate the plant and continue to do so to this day.

Although the shelling of the station did not result in the release of radiation, Olexiy Kovynyevis, an independent expert and former reactor supervisor, reports that shells hit the turbine buildings as well as the external power supply which was ‘almost completely disrupted’.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russia's invasion of Ukraine came as a shock and reminded the world of the worst moments in its history. Not since the end of the second world war has Europe seen a conflict of such proportions, destruction and human suffering.

The war has also brought back fears of nuclear destruction. Vladimir Putin’s decision to increase the readiness of Russian nuclear forces in its first days, and veiled nuclear threats from Russian officials, provoked a direct response from Joe Biden. Last month he promised “severe consequences” for “any use of nuclear weapons in this conflict on any scale”.

But the war has already brought a different kind of nuclear danger.…  Seguir leyendo »

Los antecedentes históricos de la movilización militar rusa a gran escala en su frontera con Ucrania son sombríos, pero si el Kremlin decide avanzar encontrará un peligro con el que ningún ejército invasor tuvo que lidiar antes: 15 reactores nucleares que generan, en 4 sitios, aproximadamente el 50 % del consumo energético de Ucrania.

Los reactores implican un fantasma sobrecogedor: si fueran afectados por el ataque podrían convertirse en minas radioactivas y la propia Rusia sería víctima de los residuos radioactivos aéreos resultantes. Dadas la vulnerabilidad de los reactores nucleares ucranianos y la devastación humana y ambiental que tendrían lugar si fueran dañados en combate, el presidente ruso Vladímir Putin debiera plantearse nuevamente si Ucrania vale una guerra.…  Seguir leyendo »

« Ce qui arrive »… C’est ainsi que s’intitulait l’exposition conçue par Paul Virilio, à la Fondation Cartier, en 2002. Une invitation à se pencher sur les accidents industriels du XXsiècle, pour montrer les conséquences inévitables de notre course effrénée vers un avenir prospère.

Parmi ces accidents majeurs, la catastrophe de Tchernobyl occupe une place à part, car elle interpelle radicalement nos notions d’espace et de temps, sans même parler des conséquences sanitaires pour les 8 millions de personnes, dont 2 millions d’enfants, qui vivent toujours dans les territoires contaminés de la Russie, de l’Ukraine et de la Biélorussie.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russia has been notoriously brazen in using state-owned companies as instruments of national power. President Vladimir Putin’s natural-gas wars with Belarus and Ukraine made headlines and sometimes left substantial parts of Europe in the cold. But Moscow’s exploits in other energy-related areas have been less noticed.

Recent revelations about the concerted Russian effort to buy up uranium resources across the globe may change that. For Moscow’s state-owned nuclear-energy company, Rosatom, has made successful inroads into markets around the world. It is Rosatom — not France’s Areva or the United States’ Westinghouse — that has 29 nuclear reactors in various stages of planning and construction in more than a dozen countries, the largest number of nuclear reactors being built internationally.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russia and the United States are the most advanced states in terms of nuclear energy use. We have put an end to the Cold War and the arms race, including the nuclear one. Today, our coun- tries have taken a common stand for the strengthening of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and have intensified their cooperation in combating nuclear terrorism.

Russia expressed its full support for the proposal to hold a nuclear security summit (NSS) put forward by President Obama in 2009. The first summit took place in 2010 in Washington. We reaffirm our political commitments stated in its communique. Russia has signed and ratified the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its amendment, as well as the Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, adopted by the international community at Russia’s initiative.…  Seguir leyendo »

Algunas veces, acontecimientos del presente traen al recuerdo sucesos pasados. El desastre nuclear de Chernóbil es un ejemplo. Las consecuencias que los inmensos desastres naturales de estos tres últimos meses han tenido sobre la central japonesa de Fukushima han traído a la memoria colectiva ese hecho histórico, aunque desde un punto de vista exclusivamente referido a la catástrofe atómica. Sin embargo, hay otros enfoques que conviene recordar del pasado en este especial aniversario de la tragedia acaecida en la población ucraniana.

Hoy se cumplen 25 años de Chernóbil. En efecto, fue un 26 de abril de 1986 cuando se produjo el mayor desastre nuclear de todos los tiempos, ni siquiera superado por el del país nipón.…  Seguir leyendo »

Concern about radiation exposure has been rising in Japan as nuclear experts struggle to contain the cores of at least three nuclear reactors and a spent nuclear fuel facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Details of the Fukushima accidents remain sketchy, and it will likely be months before the true scope of radiation release will be known, both in terms of which isotopes have escaped containment and at what levels. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, radiation levels following Monday’s reactor explosion reached 100,000 microsieverts per hour, four times the maximum allowed by the I.A.E.A., and more than 100 times the normal radiation exposure per person, per year.…  Seguir leyendo »