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Meanwhile, at Chernobyl…

Doc Reeves

By Doc Reeves
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Doc Reeves

Doc Reeves 6434

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TLDR: Signs of uncontrolled fission reactions in rubble deep below the old reactor are at “uh-oh” level, not “We’re all fucked” level… yet. Hopefully it stops on its own.
 

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Scientists monitoring the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have seen a surge in fission reactions in an inaccessible chamber within the complex. They are now investigating whether the problem will stabilise or require a dangerous and difficult intervention to prevent a runaway nuclear reaction.

The explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 brought down walls and sealed off many rooms and corridors. Tonnes of fissile material from the interior of a reactor were strewn throughout the facility and the heat it generated melted sand from the reactor walls with concrete and steel to form lava-like and intensely radioactive substances that oozed into lower floors.

One chamber, known as subreactor room 305/2, is thought to contain large amounts of this material, but it is inaccessible and hasn’t been seen by human or robotic eyes since the disaster.

Now, researchers have seen a spike in neutron emissions from the room, with levels increasing around 40 per cent since the start of 2016. This points to a growing nuclear fission reaction, so researchers are trying to determine if this surge will fizzle out, as previous spikes in other parts of the ruins have done, or whether they will need to find a way to access the room and intervene.

Neil Hyatt at the University of Sheffield, UK, who studies nuclear waste disposal, likens the situation to “embers in a barbecue pit” and says “it’s a reminder to us that it’s not a problem solved, it’s a problem stabilised”.

One suggestion for why this is happening is that a new structure placed over the ruined reactor in 2016 is causing the plant to dry out. When uranium or plutonium fuel decay radioactively, they emit neutrons, which can promote a fission reaction if the neutrons are captured by another radioactive nuclei. However, large amounts of water slow these neutrons down, preventing them from being captured.

The original shelter, which was hurriedly constructed over the reactor in the months following the accident, was riddled with holes that allowed rainwater and birds inside. If the rainwater was helping to suppress reactions in room 305/2, its absence due to the new structure could mean there is no longer enough water in the room to sufficiently slow neutrons down. Equally there could still be enough water left to cause problems, because if the room fully dries out, the neutrons would then be too fast to be captured, also preventing fission. So the water could be at this critical level.

“We’re talking about very low rates of fission, so it’s not like a fizzing nuclear reactor,” says Hyatt. “And our estimation of fissile material in that room means that we can be fairly confident that you’re not going to get such rapid release of nuclear energy that you have an explosion. But we don’t know for sure.”

“We have seen excursions like this before with other fuel debris. The neutron base rate has increased, stabilised and decreased again. That’s obviously what we hope might happen,” he says.

Hyatt says that the situation is “cause for concern but not alarm”, but that if the rate of neutron production continues to increase, researchers may need to intervene. This could involve drilling into the room and spraying it with a fluid containing a substance such as gadolinium nitrate, which would soak up excess neutrons and choke the fission reaction.

Maxim Saveliev worked on more recent confinement of Chernobyl and later joined the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He says that precise monitoring is difficult because there is no neutron sensor near the room in question, and scientists have no idea what material lies between their sensors and the melted fuel, making it hard to predict the exact scale of the problem. “We have only assumptions,” he says.

Saveliev says that robots should be used to get as close as possible to room 305/2 to install neutron and temperature sensors and, if possible, take samples of the lava-like material and install a solid neutron absorber, such as gadolinium in metal form.

 

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'stache

'stache 21819

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19 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

we can't kill ourselves fast enough.

3317EF1500000578-3535820-image-a-141_146

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3535820/Living-fallout-Chernobyl-30-years-later-Harrowing-photographs-children-living-40-miles-site-world-s-worst-nuclear-disaster-suffering-radiation-effects.html

 

Pretty sure that's from rural Arkansas, unclear of the relevance.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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I'm starting to think that Russia might not be on the up and up with the rest of the World.  

Also, why are they adamant about invading that part of Ukraine lately? 

"You have made lava?"  

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ScottS

ScottS 1065

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5 hours ago, phdhorn said:

Douse it with their shitty Vodka.  Kills everything else.

Might be a flaw in that plan.

Chernobyl vodka seized by Ukraine authorities

Spoiler

The Chernobyl Spirit Company said 1,500 bottles of Atomik alcoholic drink were confiscated on 19 March and taken to the Kyiv Prosecutor's office.

Officers took the shipment from a truck at a distillery in the Carpathians.

The spirit, its producers say, is Chernobyl's first consumer product since the 1986 nuclear disaster.

A bottle of Atomik apple spirit with its UK excise stampimage copyrightThe Chernobyl Spirit Company

They are now awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the Ukrainian security services but say they have "no idea" why the shipment, which was destined for the UK, was seized.

"It seems that they are accusing us of using forged Ukrainian excise stamps," explained Prof Jim Smith, a scientist who has spent many years studying the exclusion zone before setting up the Chernobyl Spirit Company with Ukrainian colleagues. "But this doesn't make sense since the bottles are for the UK market and are clearly labelled with valid UK excise stamps."

 
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

The social enterprise company that makes Atomik is run by scientists who work in the 4,000 square kilometre Chernobyl exclusion zone - an area abandoned after the catastrophic 1986 nuclear disaster. Their studies have included growing experimental crops to find out if grain, and other food grown in the zone, could be used to make products that are safe to consume.

Part of the reason for producing the spirit was to demonstrate how land around the exclusion zone could be put back to productive use. The researchers say this could allow communities there to grow and sell produce - something that is currently illegal on "officially contaminated land".

When we tasted the first Atomik vodka martini in 2019, Prof Smith, who is based at Portsmouth University, explained that it was "no more radioactive than any other vodka".

Experimental farm in the Chernobyl exclusion zone
image captionThe team grew crops in the exclusion zone to see how much of the contamination they would take up

Prof Smith and his colleagues since adjusted their recipe to make an apple-based spirit. Those apples are grown in the Narodichi district - an area immediately outside the exclusion zone, where agriculture and development is still highly restricted.

The company plans to use some of its profits to help communities in Ukraine - including in Narodichi - that are still affected by the economic impact of the nuclear disaster.

BBC News contacted the Kyiv prosecutor's office for comment but, at the time of writing, has not received a response.

 
Narodichi, Ukraine
image captionNarodichi is an officially contaminated town within the outer portion of the exclusion zone

Dr Gennady Laptev, one of the company's co-owners and a Chernobyl "liquidator" who worked there in the first weeks after the accident, said: "We hope this issue can be resolved so that we can continue our work trying to help people affected by the devastating social and economic impacts Chernobyl had on communities."

Researchers standing in the cooling pond of the Chernobyl nuclear power plantimage copyrightBBC News
image captionDr Gennady Laptev (right) has worked in the Chernobyl exclusion zone since 3 months after the accident and co-founded the Chernobyl Spirit Company

 

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ChuckNorrisActionJeans

ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2678

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Those handicapped people .... heartbreaking. Though I wouldn't doubt it's been due as much to FAS and possibly even botched abortions as much as due to radiation. That opinion is based on next to nothing, by the way. 

On a different note, I'm in a facebook group called "I just know I'll die trying to pet something I shouldn't" and the stray dogs of Chernobyl with radioactive fur are very popular. 10/10 would pet.

 

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Bevo

Bevo 13579

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1 hour ago, Vito Andolini said:

Pic from the front:

image.jpeg.dadc7373c449079f7ab2b99908b49ab7.jpeg

This is why you do it over a radioactive waste barrel. Or maybe this is what happens when you do it over a radioactive waste barrel. I don't know. It is like asking someone if three breasts is better than two. Maybe someone smarter than I am can answer.

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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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25 minutes ago, Bevo said:

This is why you do it over a radioactive waste barrel. Or maybe this is what happens when you do it over a radioactive waste barrel. I don't know. It is like asking someone if three breasts is better than two. Maybe someone smarter than I am can answer.

These guys had a theory on how to spot female aliens, there could be some cross over.

Unknown.jpeg

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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3 hours ago, 66BUFF said:

Vanessa Angel at 18,  pure smoke.

It's a tough call between her and the 3-breasted Martian broad.  But yeah, please don't tell me she was just 18 in that film.  Aykroyd was twice her age.  Her breasts and body were just phenomenal, she looked more like 28 at the time.  

What were we talking about again?  Oh yeah, slow radioactive annihilation.  Awesome! 

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66BUFF

66BUFF 2564

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3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

It's a tough call between her and the 3-breasted Martian broad.  But yeah, please don't tell me she was just 18 in that film.  Aykroyd was twice her age.  Her breasts and body were just phenomenal, she looked more like 28 at the time.  

What were we talking about again?  Oh yeah, slow radioactive annihilation.  Awesome! 

DOB 11/10/1966

Movie was released on 12/6/1985 so I guess she was 19 at the premiere

 

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Homesickhorn

Homesickhorn 2202

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19 hours ago, crash_davis said:

we can't kill ourselves fast enough.

3317EF1500000578-3535820-image-a-141_146

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3535820/Living-fallout-Chernobyl-30-years-later-Harrowing-photographs-children-living-40-miles-site-world-s-worst-nuclear-disaster-suffering-radiation-effects.html

 

Don't click on the link.  It's just fucking sad.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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I don't think she's really had much done.  There really are people who age that beautifully through clean living and genes.  No reason to always assume they've gotten lots of work done.  Yeah, that doesn't look like her natural skin at 54...but that photo is also probably of her in her mid-to-late 40's which would have her looking a lot like that.  This country's default of anybody who looks half-ass decent after 40 must have paid millions of surgeries is harmful to women's psyche.  /rant. 

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