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1/ So let's talk for a minute about the fact that the fire in Chernobyl is headed for the power plant and what the situation is there.
2/ I want to preface this by saying I am not an expert in any way on nuclear power, I'm just going to tell you know what I know about what's at the plant itself so you know what the fire could potentially be hitting. What happens thereafter is a bit of a horrible mystery
3/ You probably are aware of the previous disaster at Reactor #4 in 1986, and the resulting environmental catastrophe that forced the evacuation of Pripyat. If not, here's a good primer on the lay of the land so to speak https://www.livescience.com/39961-chernobyl.html
4/ After the disaster a concrete sarcophagus was built around the reactor to contain the radiation, but over time it deteriorated so the imaginatively named New Safe Confinement structure was built over it (Photo: Tim Porter/Wikipedia) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_New_Safe_Confinement
5/ At a height of just over 350 ft and weighing 31000 tons, the NSC was built near the sarcophagus and moved via rails over it, making it one of the largest structures to be moved into place. It was an amazing project, completed in 2018
6/ The power plant does have an area of forest cleared around it but that hasn't seemed to deter the fire, which has jumped the river already. What happens if it reaches the NSC is anyone's guess. If it's breached, this situation could become a disaster on par with the original
7/ However, as you may have noticed, this is reactor 4. As in, there are 3 others, which unbeknownst to many people unfamiliar with the area, continued operating after the original disaster & were eventually shut down in 2000. They are still in the process of being decommissioned
8/ Those plants are concrete, which is good, but what materials are where is not something I'm privy to. However, because of the scale of the project and the fact that new methods needed to be developed to handle waste, the project was not set for completion until 2065 (!!)
9/ In other words, the removal of nuclear materials there is very much an unfinished job and if you're worried about the reactor under the NSC you're forgetting that there are 3 others that are NOT under it
10/ The original Chernobyl disaster spread radiation countries away. This - and again, I'm not an expert - seems like it has the potential to be WORSE than that. If you are an expert, feel free to weigh in and/or correct me if needed.
11/ In the actual town of Chernobyl between 1000 people (Wikipedia's estimate) and 3000 (my guide's estimate) still live. A few settlers live in the zone and there is a surprising amount of wildlife there. This is, even if the fire somehow goes out right now, a horrible disaster
12/ You can read previous updates from today here https://twitter.com/abandonedameric/status/1249720767002095624?s=19
13/ From yesterday: https://twitter.com/abandonedameric/status/1249399334891905026?s=19
14/ And from the previous day, with a photo thread on some of the places already lost https://twitter.com/abandonedameric/status/1249060053916712960?s=19
15/ Look, folks, people need to know about this. It is a major international crisis at a time when everyone is talking about our other major international crisis. Please help me get the word out there. I don't know what we can do but the world needs to be paying attention
16/ A good point for perspective: another meltdown is almost impossible. However, the smoke carried radiation before and it is doing it again. It already vaporized the highly radioactive red forest https://twitter.com/eschaton2023/status/1249735749546569728?s=19
17/ One thing I can tell you is that the NSC being breached, even in a non-meltdown scenario, was not viewed as a "good thing" by the engineers at the power plant when I toured it last fall. There's a hell of a lot of radioactivity being contained inside it.
18/ An important addition: there ARE safety measures already around the plant to prevent fire: water pools, a channel, & a fire break. However the fire is 2 km from a radioactive waste containment area too. Hopefully the firefighting efforts and safety measures prevail
19/ Of course, it looks like the fire is on the other side of the channel, so your guess as to what's to come is as good as mine https://twitter.com/abandonedameric/status/1249749899849142276
