Over the last week, more publications, including Zero Hedge, have started reporting on a still developing nuclear problem at the largest nuclear plant in Europe. This news has been widely circulated in Eastern Europe over the last few weeks.
The
problem in Ukraine has been and remains verification: Ukrainian
sources have not been forthcoming. When this first occurred I was
contacted through a second party and told directly after the
officially reported transformer incident t hat a
radiation spike was observed in Crimea, which is 140km away from the
Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. The spike was small against
background radiation but noticeable on a geiger counter. I was also
given hacked files of the emergency conversation that happened at the
plant that day. They are included at the bottom of the article. The
proximity to what is coming to light means they cannot be ignored.
Understanding Geiger Counters
The first thing most people don't realize is that geiger counters are location sensitive. They are calibrated against the background radiation for a specific location. This means that if you take a geiger counter and move just a mile away, the background radiation itself could be different and the measurement inaccurate. Known background radiation is the Zero point on a calibrated geiger counter.
Second
and as important is that all sensitive measurement tools need to be
calibrated and certified to be useful. Sensitive tools go out of
calibration by themselves over time. After Fukushima, a new normal
needs to be considered.
What
this means to Europe is the possibility of a larger than Fukushima
event opening up in its own backyard, without anyone getting a handle
on it - quite literally. Depending on which way the wind blows,
without verification they are leaving their own countries futures in
the hands of Ukrainian nationalists who are in the midst of trying to
perpetrate a genocide in Donbas.
Ukraine reported an non-nuclear 'incident': a transformer short circuiting, while the term 'accident' is used for radiological issues. This report was carried across the nuclear industry forums that talked about it. The case was closed.
As reported at Zero Hedge - Two days ago we reported of the odd coincidence of a 2nd emergency shutdown at Ukraine's Zaporozhye Nuclear reactor - Europe's largest nuclear power plant - following our earlier fears of disinformation . Today, we learn of a leaked report sourced from three different places - unconfirmed for now but which RT is trying to verify - that Ukrainian nuclear scientists misled the public and a radioactive leak has been detected - and citing the country's emergency services claim that levels of radiation are 16.3 times the legally permitted norm.
What does 16.3 times the allowable norm mean? In a pre-Fukushima world, if any nuclear plant in the US were to report 1 times the allowable radiation/ steam contamination release, every major publication in the country would be focused on that event.
Allowable release at nuclear power plants falls under a Zero tolerance policy. At the Zaporozhye power plant, background radiation before the event registered at 10-12 counts per minute on a geiger counter. At 50 counts it does not cause an alarm but is something to monitor.
The
threshold for alarm is 100 counts and radiological personal
protective gear might be warranted. Zaporozhye is well
beyond that threshold now.
Post Fukushima Norms
At 16.3 X the allowable count, the measurement is not 16.3 cpm (counts per minute) X 10-12cpm (known background) at Zaporozhye. The key to understanding this is knowing what the highest allowable radiation exposure(milli-rems, milli- seiverts, beats per minute) figure is in Ukraine. Ukraine is working with the MAX allowable figure, not the normal one. The terminology used and lack of measurement is the surest indicator of there being a problem.
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