nuclear-news

Plume of smoke from fire near Chernobyl from Terra MODIS (NASA) image of 10 August 2015 via Greenpeace Russia

Fires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone continue to be a major hazard, which can impact Europe depending on the wind direction and which, in a worst case scenario, could make Europe uninhabitable. Europe needs to be sending firefighting manpower and expertise, including forestry experts, no strings attached, to help the Ukraine prevent and stop these fires.

Fire should be foremost in everyone’s minds, when considering the Ukraine’s new nuclear waste facility. This should include consideration of use of German dry casks, which resist fire for one hour.[1] The US transportation casks are only required to be resistant for 30 minutes in fire, and the US licensed non-transportation dry casks (which includes French ones), are even less resistant. Innovation is desperately needed for safe nuclear fuel storage. Focus needs to be on…