IAEA: Power cut to Chernobyl nuclear plant but no critical safety impact

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there has been "no critical impact" to the safety of Chernobyl, following warnings by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the country's security and intelligence service of a possible radiation leak, after the plant was disconnected from the state's power grid.
The warnings came in response to reports from Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo and state-run nuclear company Energoatom that Chernobyl’s power had been “fully disconnected,” threatening cooling systems that are integral for preventing a “nuclear discharge.”

#Ukraine #CNN #News

69 comments

  1. Someone should projection map buildings throughout Ukraine with these videos of captured Russians and broadcast the audio between sirens. In WW’s I&II pilots would drop propaganda fliers throughout European cities to sway influence.
    Same, same.

  2. If there’s one thing they know about in Chernobyl, it’s safety protocols at nuclear plants. 👀

  3. “No critical impact” to safety…. at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. You’d think , given the history, “any” impact to safety at THAT Plant would be gravely concerning to everyone on the planet. ✌️ 🇺🇦

    1. @TheGreatTopper No, I just think it is a sign of cowardice if you cannot bring yourself to stand behind the name your parents gave you. I’m sure you understand.

    1. He was just comparing it with the material at the still running nuclear plants, which has not had all of those half lives.

    1. @NoLimitSquad Potassium iodide (ThyroShield, Iosat). This is a nonradioactive form of iodine.

      Iodine is essential for proper thyroid function. If you’re exposed to significant radiation, your thyroid will absorb radioactive iodine (radioiodine) just as it would other forms of iodine. The radioiodine is eventually cleared from the body in urine.

      If you take potassium iodide, it may fill “vacancies” in the thyroid and prevent the absorption of radioiodine. Potassium iodide isn’t a cure-all and is most effective if taken within a day of exposure.

      Prussian blue (Radiogardase). This type of dye binds to particles of radioactive elements known as cesium and thallium. The radioactive particles are then excreted in feces. This treatment speeds up the elimination of the radioactive particles and reduces the amount of radiation cells may absorb.

      Diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA). This substance binds to metals. DTPA binds to particles of the radioactive elements plutonium, americium and curium. The radioactive particles pass out of the body in urine, thereby reducing the amount of radiation absorbed.

      https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/radiation-sickness/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20377061

    2. It may take hundreds or thousands of years for radiation to subside or reach safe levels after a meltdown. Everything within a certain radius is contaminated with radiation. Cars, theme parks, vegetation, wildlife, homes, businesses, are all highly radioactive for hundreds and thousands of years. The scariest part is: you can NOT see, feel, hear, taste, or smell radiation.

  4. I just assumed that after a nuclear power plant melts down, the power is, you know, shut off permanently…

    1. this is the naiive ignorance that will end the world, and thats not mean, thats facts. you and many others are clueless cause you never needed to understand, it was never to affect anyone. the issue in general is that if all the humans blew away tomorrow, all the plants in the WORLD would explode, and end the actual world. all thanks to us humans. they need us now to operate and keep them cool until the end of time. its our footprint on this planet that will never leave even after we wipe ourselves our cause of this exact ignorance 🙂

    2. There is a certain atmosphere that is maintained in the sarcophagus and the other structure covering it. So probably they need energy to maintain that.

    3. @Andy Christ Yes and no. Its true only one reactor went critical. Its also true the remaining reactors remained in service for some time. Its also true that none of them have been in service for more than a decade, if longer. Its crazy how we don’t all live in a world of black and white absolutes…

  5. This is what should happen …….
    Putin : “If you interfere with my invasion, it’s considered an act of war”
    Nato : “if we detect ANY above normal radioactive levels from the Ukraine, it’s considered an act of war”

    1. The nat0 started the war by supporting nao nazi Azov who killed thousands of civillians on east side of Ukraine

  6. This is like (nato) watching two people fight making sure it’s fair. But it’s not a fair fight (Russia) yet you’re too scared to jump in (us). Now the crowd (world) is arguing about why they can’t help (Ukraine)
    Smh politics succkk

  7. To everyone asking questions in the comment section, here’s some explanation. In 1986 Chernobyl power reactor exploded. This was extremely dangerous because situation escalated very quicly and threated safety of half the continent. Many brave people went there to stop this catastrophe and sacrificed their lives to literally save the world. Thousands of people were affected by radiation, lots and lots died (although soviet union never stated the real numbers and chose the path of lies as usual). So now this nuclear plant DOES NOT PRODUCE ELEXTRICITY. People work there to keep radiation levels stable and there is a years (if not decades) long program to clear this as much as possible because there’s still radiation. People don’t live there anymore, all the nearby towns were evacuated and people never came back, only the workers inhabit those lands, and they come and go in shifts. There are cemeteries of old cars (firetrucks, military cars) that were used 35+ years ago in this battle with catastrophe that happened. They are all still radioactive, you can’t touch them and dosimeter goes crazy if you approach them. So here’s your answer to why nuclear power plant needs electricity. Because electricity is the thing that allows everything to operate there. If things stop working we face radiation leak, and a very dangerous one. Hope that clears things out.

    1. The fuel will still have to heat up to the point where it would melt through the concrete pad and even if it does they put all the liquid nitrogen of the Soviet Union under it.

    2. Thank you for the explanation. I had no idea there were still people working there to keep the plant operational and keeping radiation at acceptable and safe levels and when power is cut off there is an issue with increased and leaking radiation to the population and possible meltdown.

    3. @Lina Krass this is not worth your time, your comments are going over the heads of 90 percent of these readers.

    4. There are some people who still live in the exclusion zone. Last summer I drank Chernobyl, grown and distilled, vodka with a Babooshka who moved back to the area two months after the explosion. Yes, very few people live within the exclusion zone, mostly various workers and military guards, but there are also long-timers like the Babooshka I met.

  8. spent fuel pools can boil off and meltdown if not cooled and can contain more then the reactors
    lead poor lead and iron it cools and reduces reactively by blocking radiation emit from hitting its self

  9. spent fuel pools can boil off and meltdown if not cooled and can contain more then the reactors
    lead poor lead and iron it cools and reduces reactively by blocking radiation emit from hitting its self

  10. spent fuel pools can boil off and meltdown if not cooled and can contain more then the reactors
    lead poor lead and iron it cools and reduces reactively by blocking radiation emit from hitting its self

  11. IAEA “no immediate danger” the backup generators will run for 48 hours……………. ok Ill mark that on my calendar for 2 days from now

  12. One thing needs more clarification: There are a couple of reactors at the Chernobyl site that continued to operate long after the 1986 explosion. What is the condition of the spent fuel from those reactors, and where is it kept now?

    1. @Robert Boiteau :: When the spent fuel rods overrheat, and go into meltdown, contamination of the countryside depends on direction the wind blows.

    2. @Ian Kirven I am pretty sure that you are entirely incorrect on all counts. A few things first to understand: The number 4 reactor at Chernobyl was designed to run on up to around 1660 fuel assemblies at any one time. There are still over 20,000 fuel assemblies being stored onsite in those cooling ponds. They still contain at least 90% of their previous radioactivity, and if exposed to one another, will create a nuclear fire. This will not be some simple explosion, but a sustained burn, the likes of which no human has ever witnessed and lived to talk about.

    3. @John McFarlane So, I’m confused. Although the plant was shut down decades ago, there is still spent fuel rods being cooled by pumps and since the power was shut off the spent fuel is no longer being cooled and will soon reach a risk of high temps and radiation danger ??? Please educate me on this.

    4. @Larry BruceYes they still have fuel in cooling pools. They are slowly transferring fuel to casks for long term storage. Casks are designed for long term storage with air cooling. Spent fuel at 22+ years they produce a small amount of heat. Heat over 1-3 months (no consensus) at that level could run the ponds dry. Once dry the rods heat slowly towards their melt and burning points. Some hypothesize that in storage pools at Chernobyl, the fuel would stay below melt and burning temp with just air convection, but with power and monitoring offline there is not a way to detect temps before crossing that threshold.

  13. This is partially inaccurate. The Chernobyl power plant continued to produce power until 2000. Therefore, the amount of cooling time is a lot less than the 30 years, stated in this video.

    1. @M0rshu64 Reactor #4 exploded in 1986. However, reactors 1-3 continued to generate power until 2000. Interestingly, there is a reactor #5 that was nearing completion at the time of the explosion. However, that reactor still sits abandoned just as it was in 1986. There are two partially completed cooling towers that were being built at the same time as reactor #5 but were also abandoned. I had the opportunity to visit the exclusion zone last year and explore much of what is now on the verge of another catastrophic disaster.

    2. @Keaton Blomquist yes, this is why the installed cooling system, under reactor 4, is preventing the meltdown from breaking through to the water table that lies beneath the power plant. However, if that refrigerator system fails, due to loss of power, the meltdown could make it into the water table. From there it makes it into the Pry’piat river, then Kyiv and eventually the black sea. While passive cooling is needed, a system failure could be catastrophic.

    3. @VesperAegis News & Games CNN is just as bad and dishonest as Fox. You’re fooling yourself if you think otherwise. Between Cuomo and Zucker’s firings, Lemon’s legal controversies, Toobin’s firing and rehiring, Tapper and Stelter’s declining viewership, etc…, this past year has been horrible for CNN.

    4. @HumanBreen Idiosyncratic issues with personalities and hosts aside, they have been dead right on the facts regarding vaccine efficacy, mask efficacy, not defending an amoral demagogue narcissist anti-science Former Guy with the demeanor of a small 5-year-old, systemic racism and myriad socioeconomic variables backing its acknowledgment, a gender spectrum given chromosomal combinations XYY and XXY as well as our social species’ advanced theory of mind and self-identity in attraction, anthropogenic climate change, and a whole host of other issues that Fox News has implicitly gotten wrong time and time again. Each network has a narrative, but frankly, CNN has at least been relatively consistent on debunking the fake news regarding most of these issues in particular – many of which simply have to do with basic science and facts. This, again, is why you see nonsensical references to Iron Age mythology and myths based on Levantine tribal superstitions from 2,000 years ago being proffered on Faux News much more often. If you can be gullibled into believing one conspiracy theory, you can most certainly gullibled into falling for demagoguery’s old tricks.

    5. @Thomas Farrenkopf I’m not an expert on the situation currently in Chernobyl but hopefully they will get things fixed. If not it’s on Russia’s hands

  14. Why would Russia generate power for mediums that arguably go to Ukrainian homes? Because that is not the purpose of a power plant.

  15. Did anyone tell this nuclear “expert” that Chernobyl had FOUR reactors and only ONE was shut down thirty years ago? Good lord, I know that and I can’t even spell ‘nuclear’

    1. fun fact: there are no reactors that are still available and operational, so they are ALL shutdown. chernobyl hasn’t functioned as a power plant for years. the only reason that people are still working there is to maintain the building and ensure that radiation leakage is at a minimum. no one has been making power there for DECADES since they determined that it wouldn’t be viable to have running reactors due to the radiation.

  16. I think another question that has been missed is ‘what would happen if a nuclear bomb is dropped on a country with atleast 5 nuclear energy plants’. So it shocks me… the fact Putin made a nuclear threat… that more isnt being done to shut this down, help Ukraine win the war, let them purchase Polish planes on the $1 cheap to not break any laws of war, and force Putin out. Is it better to play defense or offense with a tyrant dictator who we know has bigger plans than Ukraine? How does one try to negotiate democratically with a former KGB, professional master manipulator and untrustworthy man? Why is the narrative we will wait to see what happens next?

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