Nuclear Accident in Russia
Not much info yet but this report from
Yahoo/Canada/AP is a bit chilling:
Molten metal spill at Russian nuclear plant smelter kills 1, severely burns 2
Molten metal splashed from a smelter at a Russian nuclear power plant, killing one worker and severely burning two others, but authorities said Friday that no reactors were affected and no radiation escaped.
While relatively minor, the accident Thursday occurred on the same day prosecutors announced a "catastrophic radioactivity situation" involving improperly stored materials at a chemical factory in the southern Russian region of Chechnya.
The article has more on the accident:
The smelter accident happened at the Leningrad electricity generating station in the closed nuclear town of Sosnovy Bor, 80 kilometres west of St. Petersburg.
Russia's nuclear agency, Rosenergoatom, initially reported an explosion. It later changed course and described the incident as a "splash."
It said radiation levels remained normal. The Norwegian environmental group Bellona, a longtime critic of Russia's nuclear programs, and officials in nearby Finland also said they had not detected any spread of radiation.
The injuries:
A 33-year-old worker died of injuries Friday, and two others were injured, Yuri Lameko, chief doctor of the Sosnovy Bor hospital, told The Associated Press. The Emergency Situations Ministry said two of those involved suffered burns over 90 per cent of their bodies.
Yikes! And a bit more on the smelter:
Rosenergoatom said the smelter, run by a scrap metal reprocessing company called Ekomet-S, is on the grounds of the plant's second unit, where a reactor was shut down for repairs in July. The plant has four reactors in all, including one of the same type that blew up in Chernobyl during the Soviet era.
He said Ekomet-S workers told him about two tonnes of molten metal were in the smelter and a few hundred kilograms splashed out for unknown reasons.
The article said that this particular smelter dealt with materials from Nuclear Submarines and Power Plants and the quantity involved (two tonnes) shows that this was not any form of nuclear fuel either being made or re-processed.
And the Russian safety record:
Experts and environmentalists say Russia's nuclear industries and companies that handle radioactive materials have improved procedures in the years since the Soviet collapse. Washington has provided an estimated $7 billion US in the past 14 years to help Russia and other former Soviet republics destroy and safeguard atomic weapons.
Good to know that we are helping.
Posted by DaveH at December 16, 2005 4:02 PM