nuclear-news

Despite Chernobyl’s continuing danger, Ukraine keeps on with nuclear power

Ukraine clings to nuclear power despite Chernobyl trauma, Yahoo 7 news, by Dmitry ZAKS – AFP on April 30, 2017 “………Ukraine Wednesday marked 31 years since the disaster in which thousands died with the country extending the lifespan of its communist-era nuclear reactors and turning atomic power into a workhorse that will be around for generations to come.

The Chernobyl plant’s fourth reactor in the north of former Soviet Ukraine exploded in 1986 after a safety test went horribly wrong at 1:23 am on April 26.

Some Ukrainians remain worried that a similar catastrophe could hit their country again.

“The main risk in using nuclear energy in Ukraine is associated with reactors that have exhausted their lifespans,” says Iryna Golovko of the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine’s energy projects department.

“Today six of Ukraine’s 15 operating reactors have surpassed their designed service lives,” she told AFP. “And by 2020, there will be 12 of them.”………

Ukraine’s Energoatom state nuclear power provider has brushed off any fears about the safety repercussions of the extra burden being put on the country’s four atomic power plants — one of which is Europe’s largest……https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/35220245/ukraine-clings-to-nuclear-power-despite-chernobyl-trauma/#page1

May 1, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general