[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Chechnya's Ticking Radiation Bomb
You know, I look at this and ask, why do people
complain about our programs?
--- LNMolino@aol.com wrote:
> From another list:
>
>
> Chechnya's Ticking Radiation Bomb
>
> Dangerous radioactive cobalt lies practically
> unguarded in a Grozny
> chemical factory wrecked by war, poverty and
> lawlessness.
>
> By Amina Bisaeva in Grozny (CRS No. 271, 26-Jan-05)
>
> Radiation levels are increasing from virtually
> unguarded supplies of
> radioactive cobalt in Grozny's former chemical
> factory, which has been
> torn apart by war and looters.
>
> According to the Ministry for Emergency Situations
> of Chechnya, levels
> there are tens of thousands of times higher than
> the normal level.
>
> The source of the problem is Block 212 where an
> underground storage
> site houses containers of cobalt-60. Officials say
> that the situation at
> the semi-ruined factory worsened after looters
> searching for scrap
> dismantled the metal cover over one of the two
> sarcophagi.
>
> Now the Chechen authorities are searching for funds
> to clean up the
> site.
>
> The radioactive cobalt-60 was brought to the
> chemical factory in Soviet
> times for use in production of polyethylene. Fearing
> the consequences if
> such material was stolen, the directors of the
> chemical factory in the
> early 1990s, when Chechnya unilaterally declared
> independence, moved the
> cobalt into an underground bunker.
>
> The container with the radioactive cobalt was
> opened for the first time
> on September 13, 1999.
>
> The culprits were soon revealed: six youths from the
> nearby
> neighborhood of Kirov. They were also the factory's
> first radiation
> victims.
>
> Unaware of the danger caused by contact with
> radioactive material, the
> young people inspected the container and even took
> part of its contents
> home with them.
>
> According to the ministry for emergency situations,
> three of the people
> who were in the storage unit died within a week to
> ten days. The other
> three were taken to hospital in Rostov in critical
> condition.
>
> The second break-in at the bunker happened two
> years ago. This time,
> two young people died.
>
> The danger is only growing, said a leading expert
> from the department
> of radiation, chemical and biological contamination
> at the ministry for
> emergency situations, Bibolt Zubairev.
>
> "We have noticed an increase in the level of
> background radiation in
> one of the sarcophagi at the storage site. This is
> the one from which
> thieves have removed the covering. This happened
> about half a year ago.
> As you would expect, the consequences of this
> partial release were soon
> detectable, [as] before, the permissible level of
> radiation for the
> sarcophagus was fixed according to the level of
> background radiation,"
> he said.
>
> The contamination department's head, Abdulkosim
> Khamidov, said efforts
> have been made to secure the site since late 1999,
> the start of the
> second Chechen war in the last decade.
>
> "Safety work at the chemical factory was carried
> out in 2000: the
> radioactive materials were removed from blocks No
> 65 and 131. In block
> No 212, temporary measures were taken: access to
> the two sarcophagi was
> restricted and they were encased in metal coverings
> made of lead, sand
> and concrete. These measures succeeded in reducing
> the level of
> radiation," he said.
>
> However, the concrete is wearing away: the
> sarcophagi were built to
> last 5-6 months and already four years have gone
> by. The theft of the
> cover has only made things worse.
>
> Marat Batsuev, chief engineer at specialist firm
> Radon, said that the
> destruction of the walls by looters in search of
> bricks made the
> clean-up harder. "They are going through the
> semi-destroyed walls of
> block No 212 to gather second-hand bricks," he said.
> At this rate, the
> structure is in danger of collapse.
>
> While the authorities plan, but do nothing,
> "radioactive materials
> remain on the unguarded territory of the Grozny
> factory and the
> environmental situation gets worse by the day",
> Batsuev added.
>
> According to official statements, just before the
> beginning of the
> current war, which started in late 1999, 27
> containers with dangerous
> content were held in Block 212's underground bunker.
>
> Cobalt rods measuring 9-12 centimetres in lead
> encasement were in each
> container. As a representative of the chemical
> factory explained, the
> initial activity of one rod measures 27,000 curies.
> The radioactive
> fallout from just one such a source lasts for
> several years and could
> threaten an entire neighborhood.
>
> Most disconcerting of all for the experts is the
> fact that several
> radioactive rods have disappeared without trace.
> Theft has been made
> even easier by the removal recently of two armored
> doors blocking access
> to the bunker.
>
> Although radiation levels in adjacent buildings are
> not dangerous at
> present, a disaster at the site - an accidental
> bombing or extremist act
> - would cause a crisis.
>
> Zubairaev, at the ministry for emergency
> situations, said that in case
> of the factory being blown up, radioactive dust
> would spread dozens of
> square kilometers.
>
> Amina Bisaeva is editor of Vecherny Grozny
> newspaper.
>
> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET
> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI
> LNMolino@aol.com
> 979-690-3607 (Home Office)
> 979-412-0890 (Cell Phone)
> 979-458-0795 (TEEX Office)
>
> "A Texan with a Jersey Attitude"
>
> The comments contained in this E-mail are the
> opinions of the author and the
> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for
> any person or
> organization that I am in any way whatsoever
> involved or associated with unless I
> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this
> E-mail is intended only for its
> stated recipient and may contain private and or
> confidential materials
> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed
> in the public domain by the
> original author.
>
=====
+++++++++++++++++++
"It doesn't matter whether you're riding an elephant or a donkey if you're going in the wrong direction."
Jesse Jackson
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail: crispy_bird@yahoo.com
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To
unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the
text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,
with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/