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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukrainian nuclear power plant 'could suffer a Fukushima-style meltdown
2022-03-05
Could means any probability greater than zero, but the Daily Mail needs regular adrenaline spikes. Any thoughts on the real probability of a problem, dear Reader?
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Europe's largest nuclear power plant, at Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine, was attacked by Russian troops overnight

  • It 'could suffer a Fukushima-style meltdown due to the power being shut down after Putin's invaders attacked

  • Gun battle and shelling by Russian forces sparked fire at the complex, with firefighters blocked from going in

  • Flames were eventually doused after several hours, before Russian forces moved in and captured the plant

  • President Zelensky accused Putin of resorting to 'nuclear terror' and risking a catastrophe 'six times worse than Chernobyl', while Boris Johnson said his 'reckless' actions 'threaten the security of the whole of Europe'
Posted by:badanov

#11  OK, wait a minute. Who built that power plant? Ukrainians? Or was it built by the Soviets? I'm thinking not too many nuke plants have been built in recent years, especially by minor players like the Ukrainians.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2022-03-05 12:23  

#10  ^ OK, but on the whole I think the idea of combat assaulting a nuclear power plant deserves a rethink.
Posted by: Matt   2022-03-05 11:37  

#9  Last I heard, the fire in the admin building was out, the plant was up and running staffed by plant employees and generating power. Meme Alert: the employees are being forced to do what they do every day, but at *GUNPOINT*. So basically, business as usual, with the exception of some heavily armed Russians planting explosives around the workplace.

Chess is a game maneuver and threat. The threat of blowing up a power plant is a good card to hang on to.
Posted by: SteveS   2022-03-05 11:31  

#8  Part of the Fukushima disaster was a tsunami. According to Google Earth, Ukraine is pretty far inland, but with global warming and rising sea levels, it *could* happen.

to the left of the zero

Left of the zero, right of the zero - it is zero on both sides, so at this point what does it matter?
Posted by: SteveS   2022-03-05 11:22  

#7  ^ Ow.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-03-05 11:10  

#6  "It could be like 4/26 times six!"

My gaud; that's 2,556.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2022-03-05 11:05  

#5   to the left of the zero

*sigh* It was the middle of the night — I confused left and right.
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-03-05 10:52  

#4  Normally reactor cores take days to cool down from operating temperatures and during that time they need active cooling. So, kinda sorta. The longer the cooldown the less 'messy' things get if they loose power abruptly.
Posted by: magpie   2022-03-05 02:26  

#3  I would have gone with one place less to the left of the zero, but I yield to your greater expertise. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-03-05 01:09  

#2  p=0.00000000001 to the 95th confidence interval
Posted by: Phelet Snirong9114   2022-03-05 01:06  

#1  This is one of the thousands of reasons I've learned to regard all media as complete scumbags.
Posted by: Raj   2022-03-05 00:40  

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