-Caveat Lector- Subject: NATO air strikes could cause a second Chernobyl > SUNDAY HERALD > > 27 April 1999 > > NATO air strikes could cause a second Chernobyl > > By Felicity Arbuthnot > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Publication Date: Apr 25 1999 > > EUROPE'S most dangerous nuclear power plant could be just 30 minutes from > a > catastrophic meltdown due to Nato air strikes on Serbia, a British expert > has claimed. > > Oil from bombed refineries has seeped into the River Danube, causing 13 > huge slicks which are now threatening Bulgaria's Kozloduy plant's cooling > system, prompting environmentalists to warn of a "very real danger" of a > second Chernobyl. > > One British expert said workers at Kozloduy, which has around five million > people within its blast danger zone, would have just half an hour to shut > down the reactors if cooling water from the river becomes contaminated > with > the thick oily sludge. > > But John Large, a London-based nuclear safety consultant who has > investigated Kozloduy for the British government, claimed the plant has > been staffed by little more than farmers since Russian technicians went > home after the break-up of the Soviet Union. > > Large confirmed the thick oil slicks could jam machines which pump water > 6km from the Danube to cool the reactors. He warned sparking could cause > fires, but his main fears concern overheating reactors due to a prolonged > absence of coolant, which may lead to the explosive release of a > radioactive cloud. > > Large said: "The people at Kozloduy would have perhaps 30 minutes to close > down the reactors." > > He claimed there would be ample opportunity for inexperienced operators to > make mistakes. "How shall I put it? This is a high-tech plant which is now > run by agrarian labourers. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, the > Russian technicians who ran the plant went home, taking the instruction > manuals with them." > > Large said that in the worst case scenario, loss of coolant combined with > operator error could result in an accidental release of a cloud of > radioactive gas. The reactors were so old, he warned, that their pressure > vessels could have become brittle and liable to catastrophic failure. > > Kozloduy takes water from the Danube at a point just 100km from the > Serbian > border. One of the 13 slicks approaching it is 24km long. > > An emergency shutdown on one of the plant's six reactors would plunge much > of Bulgaria into darkness. > > But it is the fear of catastrophe which has caused worldwide alarm. A > coalition of Bulgarian environmental groups has warned the country's > government that there is "a very real danger" of a disaster similar to > that > caused by the blast at Chernobyl in April, 1986. > > Bulgarian authorities are refusing to release details of how the risk is > being dealt with. However, environmentalists have warned that the 24km > slick, which eyewitnesses claim is a "thick, oily gunge", will pass the > cooling pumps in "a matter of days". > > Campaigner Rasitsa Panayotova from Za Zemiata (Bulgarian for For the > Earth), claimed oil contamination could cause reactors at Kozloduy to > explode. > > "Another danger is that oil in the vicinity catches fire, also threatening > the complex," she warned. The site also houses a substantial stockpile of > nuclear waste. > > Four of Kozloduy's aging six reactors have no secondary containment to > prevent radiation from escaping in the event of an accident. > > Most western experts regard them as unsafe and the European Union has been > trying to persuade the Bulgarians to close them for years. The Bulgarian > government has resisted because the reactors supply 35% of the country's > electricity. > > A detailed investigation earlier this month by the official nuclear > regulatory agencies from 10 countries, including Britain, concluded > Kozloduy could never be made safe. > > "The existing and planned safety upgrading programmes will not be > sufficient to bring these units up to acceptable safety standards," they > said. > > Another study by the US Department of Energy revealed the plant failed on > six out of seven accident indicators and concluded that "operation of the > Kozloduy nuclear power plant is truly a high-stakes gamble." > > Last week Bulgarian environmental groups demanded the closure of Kozloduy > after their government gave Nato planes permission to make emergency > landings 50km away at Gabrovnica. > > The Bulgarian committee on the uses of atomic energy for peaceful purposes > also warned a plane crash at Kozloduy could cause an "uncontrolled > disaster". > > Talent develops in tranquillity, > character in the full current of human life. > Í DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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