nuclear-news

Safety concerns about Russia’s nukes – highlighted by recent fire at nuclear institute

Fire at Moscow nuclear institute, Russia says no risk (Reuters) – Jan 29 2012 There was no risk of a radiation leak after a fire broke out at a Moscow nuclear research centre housing a non-operational 60-year-old atomic reactor on Sunday, said officials, but Greenpeace Russia expressed serious concern about the incident.

The fire broke out early on Sunday in a part of the Alikhanov
Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics in southwestern
Moscow that contains a research collider, institute officials said in
a statement on its website……
SAFETY CONCERNS

A Greenpeace Russia official said the incident was potentially very dangerous.

“This is extremely dangerous … this should not have happened at all,
but as long as it did, it shows there has been a major failure in
their operations,” said Ivan Blokov, campaign director at Greenpeace
Russia.

“What we have here is a large amount of radioactive substance right in
the centre of Moscow and even if a minor quantity leaks, it would pose
a serious problem.”

Russian news agencies issued conflicting reports.

Interfax cited a police source as saying fire brigades were denied
access to the facility for “a long time” before being allowed in, but
the institute said that was not the case…….
Safety at Russia’s nuclear facilities has been a concern since the
deadly 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine,
then a Soviet republic. The Soviet authorities did not announce that
disaster for two days.

A fire aboard a nuclear submarine in the north Russian port of
Murmansk in December severely damaged the vessel, but authorities said
radiation levels remained normal.

Russia has suffered several accidents which observers say were the
result of negligence and corruption, problems that have hindered
modernization of the civilian and military infrastructure…….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/05/us-russia-fire-nuclear-idUSTRE8140J520120205

February 7, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | incidents, Russia