19.08.2022, Moscow.
The consequences of Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP could be most serious, although the plant has protection systems for cooling and storage systems, engineering physicist Aleksandr Bykov said in an interview published in The Essence of Time newspaper on August 19.
Since July 18, the Ukrainian armed units have attacked the Zaporozhye NPP with multiple rocket launchers, artillery, and drones. On the night of August 19, a Ukrainian missile hit the area 10 meters away from the ZNPP nuclear waste storage facility.
“Radioactive waste has, of course, smaller activity than the fuel itself, but this does not mean that its radioactivity is zero, that the consequences from the destruction of this kind of facility are negligible,” Bykov stated.
Bykov noted that the 70 centimeters of concrete that cover the containers in the storage facility “is not that easy to destroy.” However, the storage facility “was not designed for the case of the military actions.”
“We have a row of steel containers covered on top with a concrete dome,” the nuclear physicist explained. “This is not a dome in the full sense of the word. It’s not designed for physical protection.”
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
