The Chernobyl fires: a wake-up call
Analysis by Zeina Dagher, Staff Writer
April 27th, 2020
As of April 18th, 2020, Kiev in Ukraine has the worst air pollution in the world due to fires near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site. The fires started on April 3rd near the village of Vladimirovka that sits within the exclusion zone of the site, spreading into nearby forestsand almost reaching the defunct power plant. Police have stated it was started by careless locals and have identified a 27-year-old man suspected of starting them. Pictures taken recently show Kiev covered in thick smoke, which has its own health consequences, but the even bigger concern is contaminated air masses from the site reaching populated areas. Last week, Kateryna Pavlova, the head of the agency that oversees the Chernobyl area, said that there had been no increase in radiation levels in the Chernobyl zone and Kiev. However, locals are questioning these affirmations, saying that they are only made to avoid spreading panic. In fact, a report released on the 15th by the French Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute (IRSN) shows that samples taken of the air in Kiev had elevated levels of radioactive cesium 137, “significantly higher than the values usually measured for cesium 137 in the air in Kiev”. However, the report says that for now, “they remain moderate and have no health consequences,” in contrast to the levels in the (populated) exclusion zone and plant itself, which are significantly higher. Although the fast-spreading fires have now mostly been put out thanks to rainfall and firefighters , scientists warn about the long-term environmental and sanitary dangers of such a fire, while Ukrainian officials keep denying any radiation threat.
The Chernobyl disaster is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in history. On Saturday, April 26th 1986, reactor no 4 of the Chernobyl power plant exploded after a failed safety test, causing a big fire that directly killed two of the operating staff and 28 of them indirectly. The explosion released a lot of airborne radioactive contamination and the fire gradually released the same amount of contamination for about nine days, precipatating onto parts of the USSR and western Europe before finally being contained on 4 May 1986. To protect people from high radiation levels, 68,000 people were evacuated from the area and a 30-km-radius exclusion zone was created, to constantly be monitored, managed, and decontaminated by responsible authorities. Today, it houses 197 people in 11 villages (down from 1200 in 1986), most of which are senior citizens after permission was granted to stay by the Ukrainian government. Most of the buildings in the area are abandoned and the power plant itself is completely shut down after the last functioning reactor was turned off in 2000. To stop the spread of contamination, reactor no 4 was quickly encased in a concrete sarcophagus that was fortified in 2016 with a metal arch slid over it. Used fuel from units 1-3 has been put in nuclear fuel storage facilities and most of the fuel from reactor no 4 remains inside the shelter with lava-like fuel containing materials (FCM) slowly degrading over time.
The degradation process of radioactive materials takes a lot of time becuase the products of nuclear fission have long half-lives, which means that they will continue to be radioactive (therefore hazardous) for thousands of years. This radioactive waste is usually stored in steel cylinder containers and then placed in another concrete cylinder where it will slowly degrade. However, these cylinders are thrown in open, low-populated locations (like Greenland), and are therefore at anyone’s reach. If any leaks were to occur, the effects would be disastrous on humans and the environment. According to the Health Physics Society, radioactive contamination occurs when material that contains radioactive atoms is deposited on materials, skin, clothing, and if it is breathed in, swallowed, or absorbed through wounds. The person contaminated with radioactive material will receive radiation exposure until the radioactive material is removed. There’s a certain “safe” amount of radiation to which a person can be exposed, above which health risks become serious: cancerous growths, destruction of organs or skin tissue, genetic mutations that last through generations (as well as for animals, destroying entire ecosystems)… These health effects have been summarized by the “Acute Radiation Syndrome”. For example, after the Chernobyl disaster, 134 of the staff were hospitalized with ARS, many of them dying from cancer over the next 10 years, four square kilometers of pine forests died, trees and plants were unable to reproduce for at least three years afterwards and birth defects were found in animals… The radioactive material even seeps through the soil, contaminating water aquifers and rendering the soil impossible to exploit for thousands of years.
The recent fires have exacerbated the dangers of radioactive waste in the Chernobyl area. According to Severe Weather Europe, “when fires burn the radioactive biomass, the particles that are released are also radioactive and can be carried by the winds, along with the smoke.” The smoke can directly contaminate people who inhale it, or even indirectly, by contaminating the crops they eat. Had they reached and destroyed the steel dome, the effects would have been even more disastrous, as hundreds of tons of radioactive contamination would have been released into the open air.
With how serious the dangers of fires in the area are, why are locals starting them? The 27-year-old man caught by police claimed that burning dry grass is a fun tradition that locals like to do every year. This practice was legal back in the Soviet era and hasn’t really stopped since, despite the Ukrainian government’s efforts to ban it. According to NBC News, the Ukrainian government has imposed fines for setting grass fires with fees ranging from $13 to $30, which many believe is not enough. Subsequently, the fires have prompted authorities to take action, with the Ukrainian parliament voting last week to increase the fines to up to $230 for starting a fire in a village or a town and up to $5,600 for starting a fire outside of towns and in forests. But fines aren’t enough. So long as there is a lack of education for villagers on the damage caused by recklessly burning grass, fines will not be enough. Therefore, it falls on the government to provide the necessary education along with safer altrernatives for taking care of dry grass.
The nuclear debate is constantly ongoing in the world: whether nuclear weapons should be allowed, where we should dispose of nuclear waste, whether nuclear energy is really the best alternative to fossil fuels… Seeing the dangers of nuclear disasters on humankind and the environment and just how much time radioactive waste takes to disintegrate, the answer to that the aforementioned questions might be “no.” Today, the world heavily relies on nuclear energy, with 450 functioning nuclear reactors scattered around the world. Even though they are much safer now than they were 30 years ago, radioactive waste is still an issue worth addressing. Countries are still dumping nuclear barrels in oceans, namely those of African countries (like Somalia) and less-wealthy countries, which naturally poses a threat to our oceans. Truth is, far better alternatives exist for nuclear energy, namely: thorium (much more abundant than uranium, environmentally safe, and cost effective), solar power (abundant, inexhaustible, extremely effective), natural gas, hydrogen, and many more. With all the natural and sanitary disasters happening in our world today, it is high time political leaders start adopting environmentally friendly energy sources.