The risk of a nuclear accident at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant near
Murmansk and only kilometers from Norway’s border with Russian, will
continue to increase until it is closed – at the earliest in 2030 when
it will have operated twice as long as it was designed to.
Kola is just one nuclear power plant that Russia is letting grow old
and decay while it spends the bulk of its money building nuclear power
plants in other countries, a new report by Bellona has found.
Independent international experts widely consider the Kola Nuclear
Power Plant to be one of the world’s most dangerous. It went into
service over four decades ago, in 1973, and lacks the concrete
reinforcements present in new reactor designs. This means that
radioactivity could be released far easier in the event of an accident.
Although Russia makes an effort to maintain the plant, it is only
becoming more worn. Most critically, the steel in its reactor vessels
will become more fatigued as they continue to be exposed to radiation.
Should there be an accident at the plant, its severity is largely in
the hands of the prevailing winds – which would likely focus the fallout
on Murmansk’s population of 300,000, and farther to the Barents Sea.
Additionally, according to wind simulation models, the country of
Finnmark in northern Norway, the coastal town of Tromsø and northern
Sweden would also be hit.
Despite this, there are no near-future plans to close the plant.
Instead, Russia invests in continual maintenance and upgrades to
Band-Aid emerging problems. Norway itself contributes money and
expertise to these efforts in the hopes of delaying an incident.
“Unfortunately, this also contributes to this old nuclear plant being
in operation for longer,” said Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s general manager
and nuclear physicist, who is one of the report’s co-authors. “This
means that the Kola Nuclear Power Plant is an increasing safety risk for
Norway.”
Data: 31.05.2017
Fonte: www.bellona.org
