The Greenpeace has issued a serious warning and said that uncontrolled collapse of the internal radiation shell at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine could lead to a radioactivity release. Greenpeace, founded in 1971, is an international environmental organisation that focuses on climate change, deforestation and pollution.
The warning by Greenpeace comes just before the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, which had happened on April 26, 1986. The disaster had happened after a reactor exploded, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate the affected area.
In its report that was released on Tuesday, the Greenpeace said confinement function of the New Safe Confinement (NSC) of Chernobyl could not be completely restored despite the recent repairs. “This increases the risk of radioactivity release in the environment especially in the case of a collapse” of the internal shelter,” the report stated.ย
‘Situation very dangerous’
Plant director Sergiy Tarakanov has backed the Greenpeace report and said that the situation around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is “very dangerous”. He said that the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 had shown the world that radioactive particles “do not recognise borders”.
“If a rocket will drop, not directly into the safe confinement, but just in 200 metres, it will create an external impact like an earthquake,” he said.ย
A catastrophic situation?
Speaking to AFP, Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist for Greenpeace Ukraine, said the uncontrolled collapse of the internal radiation shell would be catastrophic because it would lead to “four tons of dust, highly radioactive dust, fuel pellets, enormous amounts of radioactivity inside the sarcophagus”.
He also noted that due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which started in February 2022, works at the Chernobyl nuclear site have been impeded. It must be noted that France last month had said that it would cost 500 million euros to repair the Chernobyl protective dome following Russian attack last year.
“And because the New Safe Confinement cannot be repaired at the moment, it cannot function as it was designed, there’s a possibility of radioactive releases,” Burnie said. “Here we are 40 years on and Russia is still conducting effectively a nuclear war against the people of Ukraine and Europe.”