‘Impossible to control’: new fire at Chernobyl site

“impossible to control”
New fire at Chernobyl site

03/28/2022, 07:50 am

According to Ukrainian officials, a new, major fire has started in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear ruins. Due to Russian occupation, however, it is impossible to completely extinguish the fire. The International Atomic Energy Agency has not received any live data for almost three weeks.

According to Ukrainian officials, new fires have broken out in the Russian military-held area around the Chernobyl nuclear ruins. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram on Sunday evening: “A major fire has started in the exclusion zone, which can have very serious consequences.” However, due to Russian troops, it is currently “impossible to completely control and extinguish the fire”.

Vereshchuk called on the UN Security Council to take “immediate action” to “demilitarize” the area around the nuclear ruins. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Sunday that the safety situation at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants remains unchanged. She determined last week that wildfires around Chernobyl do not pose a major radiological risk.

The team works for a month without respite

However, the IAEA has not received any live data from monitoring equipment from Chernobyl for almost three weeks. He also expressed concern on Sunday that the staff at the site had not been changed since March 20. The previous team also had to work for a month without replacing.

On 24 March, the Chernobyl city fire department reported that four fires had been extinguished, but that there were more. The Ukrainian parliament had previously reported that the fire had spread over an area of ​​more than two square kilometres.

The Russians had already occupied the complex on the first day of their invasion of the neighboring country. After the 1986 recession, a coffin was built over the ruins to prevent radioactivity from escaping. Burnt fuel rods also accumulate at the site.