Once again, the IAEA refuses to consider nuclear reactor safety in the event of a potential nuclear meltdown, where meltdowns cause explosions and environmental disasters.
Following the latest attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the possibility of a reactor meltdown has been cited ("What are the risks at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after drone attack?", click here). That is, the press and the IAEA are now claiming that there is such a risk of a nuclear fuel meltdown and Fukushima-type explosion.
All reactors are shut down at Europe's largest nuclear power station, located near the Ukraine war's front line, but it requires constant power to cool the reactors and prevent a potentially catastrophic meltdown.
In a confidential note to member states seen by Reuters on Tuesday, the chairperson of the 35-member IAEA Board said Ukraine and Russia had both written to him the previous day requesting an extraordinary meeting. ("UN nuclear watchdog's board sets emergency meeting after Zaporizhzhia attacks", click here).
The head of the U.N.'s atomic watchdog agency on Sunday condemned a drone strike on one of six nuclear reactors at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, saying such attacks "significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident". ("Attacks on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant significantly increase accident risk, IAEA head says", click here).
While the risk of a meltdown is certainly important, the risk of a resulting explosion is the blast that could cause environmental catastrophe. As the nuclear reactors cool, the magnitude of an associated explosion is reduced. For any meltdown, an explosion of some magnitude will occur if water is suddenly added to molten reactor fuel. The important question today is how big a Zaporizhzhia explosion can be, and the IAEA blows off any thoughts about a stopping such an explosion.
More importantly, any reactor explosion can be stopped, and the IAEA refuses to take appropriate actions. This claim is clearly documented in previous Op Eds and peer-reviewed journal articles (Nuclear Threats - Part 5 - An Incoming Nuclear Plant Explosion Disaster- Near Missed This Next Disaster, Stop A Potential Radioactive Europe and Russia - A Letter To Energoatom, The Ukraine Nuclear Power Company, The Ukraine Nuclear Scare - The IAEA Endangered Europe and Russia). A few Op Ed News quotes from an earlier nuclear scare at Zaporizhzhia follow.
'Following missile attacks near another Ukraine nuclear power plant, the Ukraine Nuclear Scare is rekindled, actions to stop a potential radioactive disaster are again discarded by authorities, and I still work to stop the next - preventable - nuclear power plant explosions.'
'On the war front of nuclear disaster, the IAEA refused to consider legitimate methods to prevent a potential explosive nuclear disaster, and the IAEA risked lives, homes, businesses, lands, and waterways to potential Ukraine radioactive explosions.
At the Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants, lives were at stake, and the possibility of a radioactive dust cloud spreading across Europe and Russia was at hand. By default, the IAEA (The International Atomic Energy Agency), who represents the United Nations, then decisively chose to permit loss of life, permit the radioactive contamination of many countries, and permit the possible evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.'
Recommended actions to stop such explosions are also available (You Can Stop an Explosive Nuclear Disaster: A Message to Nuclear Power Reactor Operators).
'If you lose power to cool your nuclear reactor, and a meltdown occurs, you (the nuclear power plant reactor operators) can still stop the monstrous explosions that can blast radioactive materials into the air and across your country and/or other countries.
This fight against a shutdown and repression of nuclear safety explosion information is too important to just give up. The risks to our safety and environment are too important to ignore.'
I have lost track of how many times I have said nuclear power plant explosions can be stopped (The American Nuclear Society Fights Against Nuclear Safety to Kill People and Destroy Our Environment).
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