A container of old spent nuclear fuel rods weighing several tons falls
from a crane and, thanks to a defective weld, splits open, spilling a
stew of radioactivity onto a dock at Andreyeva Bay, one of Russia’s most
sensitive Cold War legacy sites located mere kilometers from the
Norwegian border.
Radiation sensors aboard the Rossita, the ship onto which
the container was being loaded, wail their alarm as contamination creeps
across the dock and into the waters below. Two technicians are injured
and need immediate medical attention.
The culprit for the accident: an avalanche of rocks sloughing off a
nearby cliff, sending a wave crashing into the dock, causing the crane’s
gears to spin out while they wrestle with their swaying nuclear load.
It’s the sort of thing that could happen at Andreyeva Bay, where technicians are now cleaning up 22,000 spent nuclear submarine fuel rods that have accrued there since the early 1960s.
But fortunately it didn’t. It was all part of a drill, which was
conducted earlier this month while officials from Rosatom, Russia’s
state nuclear corporation, and Norwegian Radiation Safety Authority
looked on.
And according to both sides, the drill came off without a hitch.
Data: 30.10.2018
Fonte: www.bellona.com
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