Nukewatch

Working for a nuclear-free future since 1979

  • Issues
    • Weekly Column
    • Counterfeit Reactor Parts
    • Depleted Uranium
    • Direct Action
    • Lake Superior Barrels
    • Environmental Justice
    • Nuclear Power
      • Chernobyl
      • Fukushima
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • On The Bright Side
    • Radiation Exposure
    • Radioactive Waste
    • Renewable Energy
    • Uranium Mining
    • US Bombs Out of Germany
  • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Newsletter Archives
  • Resources
    • Nuclear Heartland Book
    • Fact Sheets
    • Reports, Studies & Publications
      • The New Nuclear Weapons: $1.74 Trillion for H-bomb Profiteers and Fake Cleanups
      • Nuclear Power: Dead In the Water It Poisoned
      • Thorium Fuel’s Advantages as Mythical as Thor
      • Greenpeace on Fukushima 2016
      • Drinking Water at Risk: Toxic Military Wastes Haunt Lake Superior
    • Nukewatch in the News
    • Links
    • Videos
  • About
    • About Nukewatch
    • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
    • Action Alerts!
    • Calendar
    • Workshops
  • Donate

May 12, 2022 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

IAEA Says Missile Hit Radioactive Waste Area in Kyiv

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2022
By John LaForge

The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) February 27 that missiles hit the site of a radioactive waste disposal facility in Kyiv over night, and “there were no reports of damage to the building or any indications of a radioactive release,” IAEA’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement.

The IAEA’s alert then noted that “SNRIU said it expects to soon receive the results of on-site radioactive monitoring.”

The carefully worded report is deceptively telling. It first declared that there are “no indications” and “no reports” of a radioactive release. But this reassurance was given before any data from radiation monitors had been reviewed, making the statement simultaneously true, and completely meaningless.

Bob Alvarez, a former senior advisor and deputy assistant secretary in the Energy Department, and a long-time critic of nuclear reactor operations, reported, “Given that war is raging at or near the Chernobyl reactor site, more than 21,000 waste nuclear fuel assemblies are currently held in a pool inside of a crumbling building. Several waste fuel assemblies are bent, broken, and cracked. Efforts to remove and place the waste fuel into dry storage have stopped. [An additional] 4,000 cubic meters of high-level waste, resulting from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, are stored in shallow, “engineered trenches” that may also be vulnerable to bombing and artillery fire. The loss of water and destruction of the waste fuel pool storage building, or the destruction of any of the trenches holding high level waste, could result in a catastrophic release.”

The Kyiv radioactive waste incident came a day after Ukraine’s SNRIU reported that a similar disposal facility near the north-eastern city of Kharkiv had been damaged, but again “without any reports of a radioactive release.”

Director General Grossi said, “These two incidents highlight the very real risk that facilities with radioactive material will suffer damage during the conflict, with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment.”

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-5-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-4-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine

Filed Under: Newsletter Archives, Quarterly Newsletter, Radioactive Waste, War

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Donate

Facebook

Categories

  • B61 Bombs in Europe
  • Chernobyl
  • Counterfeit Reactor Parts
  • Depleted Uranium
  • Direct Action
  • Environment
  • Environmental Justice
  • Fukushima
  • Lake Superior Barrels
  • Military Spending
  • Newsletter Archives
  • North Korea
  • Nuclear Power
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Office News
  • On The Bright Side
  • Photo Gallery
  • Quarterly Newsletter
  • Radiation Exposure
  • Radioactive Waste
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sulfide Mining
  • Through the Prism of Nonviolence
  • Uncategorized
  • Uranium Mining
  • US Bombs Out of Germany
  • War
  • Weekly Column

Contact Us

(715) 472-4185
nukewatch1@lakeland.ws

Address:
740A Round Lake Road
Luck, Wisconsin 54853
USA

Donate To Nukewatch

News & Information on Nuclear Weapons,
Power, Waste & Nonviolent Resistance

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

© 2023 · Nukewatch