Ukraine's Director of Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) Anatolii Nosovskyi claimed that looters had made off with radioactive ingredients that could be used in creating dirty bombs.
According to Nosovskyi, radioactive isotopes at a Chernobyl monitoring lab have gone missing as Russian troops occupied the nuclear power plant and disaster zone. When mixed with explosives, radioactive isotopes could make a dirty bomb. (Related: DIRTY TACTICS: Ukraine claims without evidence that materials for DIRTY BOMB were stolen from lab near Chernobyl.)
A dirty bomb, or radiological dispersal device, is any kind of explosive device that has been mixed with radioactive material, such as radioactive powder or pellets. When it explodes, it does not create a nuclear blast. But it does spread the radioactive material into the surrounding area, which can cause immediate serious illness to people who live within the proximity of the initial blast.
Nosovskyi branded the attack on Chernobyl along with other nuclear installations in Ukraine as a state-sponsored "nuclear terrorism."
After the ISPNPP lost contact with Chernobyl and the lab, Nosovskyi said "the fate of these sources is unknown to us," causing worries that the dirty bomb ingredients could be missing.
But it is well known now that Ukraine has – or at least used to have – radioactive ingredients that could be used in creating dirty bombs.
Russian tanks, armored vehicles going through the Red Forest
Workers at Chernobyl said Russian soldiers who captured the area drove their armored vehicles without radiation protection through a highly toxic zone called the "Red Forest," kicking up clouds of radioactive dust.
Soldiers in the convoy did not use any anti-radiation gear, two Chernobyl workers told Reuters.
This was "suicidal" for the soldiers because the radioactive dust they inhaled will likely cause internal radiation in their bodies according to one Chernobyl worker.
Both workers said they had seen Russian tanks and other armored vehicles going through the Red Forest, which happens to be the most contaminated part around Chernobyl.
Concerns have also been raised about the wildfires that broke out on March 11, which were kindled in the neighboring radioactive forests that shelter radioisotopes spewed in the Chernobyl accident and taken up by plants and fungi.
Fires still burning at Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
According to Nosovskyi, Russian troops have stopped firefighters from coming to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
The fires are still burning and could become more extreme as the weather warms or could lead to "significant deterioration of the radiation situation in Ukraine and throughout Europe."
"There is no information on the real situation in the exclusion zone," warned Viktor Dolin, research director of the Institute for Environmental Geochemistry in Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Lyudmila Denisova, commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for human rights, said there are "more than 10,000 hectares of forests are burning in the exclusion zone in the CAEC [Chernobyl] area due to combat action" aggravated by dry and windy weather.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk blamed Russia for its "irresponsible" acts over the occupied power station that could send radiation in a large part of Europe. She called on the United Nations Security Council to take "immediate measures" on the situation.
Vereshchuk stated in a Facebook post that Russian President Vladimir Putin's military "pose a very serious threat not only to Ukraine, but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans" while also accusing Russia of using "old and unconditional ammunition" and creating a danger of damaging the containment vessel constructed around the station's wrecked fourth reactor.
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Watch the video below about Chernobyl nuclear plant labs that appear abandoned.
This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.
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