That's about what it's worth
By Aussiegirl
Headline in the Herald Sun:
"Chernobyl metal sold for crap"
If this wasn't so tragic it would be funny -- so much of life is that way.
"Comedy -- tragedy viewed from a distance"~~Aussiegirl
Read more:
PIECES of metal from the Chernobyl nuclear power station in northern Ukraine, scene of the world's worst civil nuclear disaster in 1986, are to be sold for scrap.
Olexandre Smyshliayev, the director of the public company, Chernobylskaya, which ran the former power station, today said part of the plant would be cut up and sold by weight to help pay for reinforcing the sarcophagus of the damaged reactor.
He was quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency as saying all the material to be taken from the site had been tested by the authorities for levels of radiation and had been found to be "clean".
The scrap metal, which will go on sale in March, will come from sections of the plant farthest from the reactor, which is at the heart of the contaminated zone. The director said that no material from the reinforced concrete sarcophagus that surrounds the reactor would be sold.
The sarcophagus is currently threatening to collapse.
Russia could be the biggest customer for the scrap metal as it still operates power stations similar to the one in Chernobyl.
In April 1986, the core of the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl plant exploded and for 10 days spewed radioactive material equivalent to more than 200 Hiroshima bombs into the air, contaminating large swathes of Europe, particularly neighbouring Belarus.
The Soviet government said 31 people were killed on the spot.
According to UN figures, between 15,000 and 30,000 have died since the disaster in 1986 and nearly 6 million people continue to live in contaminated zones.
Chernobyl was finally closed in December 2000 with international financial aid, only part of which has been paid.
The international community has raised more than 720 million euros ($1.19bn) for the construction of a 20,000-tonne steel case to cover the present sarcophagus, which was built in a rush after the accident. That must be completed by 2008.
posted by Aussiegirl @ 3:53 PM
2 Comments:
I couldn`t help but laugh when I came to the part where it said Russia was going to buy the scrap to recycle it on other nuclear reactors! Only the Russians!
I loved that polemic; Comedy is indeed tragedy viewed from a distance (anyone who doesn`t believe that should rent a tape of the Three Stooges!)
Ain't it the truth. They should take it back - it was their faulty Soviet-era design that led to this disaster, which caused so much harm -- not only to so many people, but to the cause of clean and safe nuclear energy. Western reactors are designed completely differently, and from what I understand this accident would have been impossible in a western reactor. But I too laughed. Yup -- it's funny if somebody else falls flat on their face -- but not if you do!!! Speaking of the Three Stooges -- you know one way you can tell the difference between men and women -- if you ask a woman who she most admires she will probably say something like, Mother Theresa and Albert Schweitzer -- a man will probably say, Albert Schweitzer, Einstein, and Mo! Ask any woman - none of us was ever a fan of the Three Stooges -- but men love them -- go figure - vive la difference!
Post a Comment
<< Home