Nuclear power is now going through a difficult time and the world community is becoming more and more concerned by it. After the tragic events of 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as well as at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant (where an anthropogenic accident occurred in 2011 due to an earthquake and tsunami), the safety of the operation of nuclear power plants in all countries has been receiving increasingly more attention. The European Union even convened an emergency meeting in Brussels to discuss the safety standards for nuclear reactors operating on the European continent.
According to a study by the European Commission, nuclear power generates 27% of electricity in the EU. According to the European Nuclear Society (ENS), about 200 nuclear power units are currently operating or are being constructed in Europe. Strict monitoring measures are applied to all operating and developing NPPs not only from the countries that build these facilities, but also from international organizations.
Unfortunately, despite these measures, today information campaigns conducted by individual countries against the use of nuclear power plants often appear and are clearly aimed not at strengthening security measures in the nuclear energy sector, but at narrowly self-serving politicized goals.
A striking example of this, in particular, is the campaign launched by Lithuania against the construction of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant in Belarus. The main reason for the campaign is the desire of the Lithuanian conservatives to please Washington by using anti-Russian sentiments to reduce the influence of Russia and its closest ally, Belarus, in the European energy market. It’s no secret that Lithuania itself wanted to build its own nuclear power plant in Visaginas with the help of Japanese and American corporations. For a long time, Lithuania expected that the project would include its neighbors – Latvia, Estonia and Poland, but the funds for the implementation of this project were lacking.
It is noteworthy in this respect that, while artificially inflating the ‘Russian threat’ in the field of nuclear power, many European states prefer to keep silent about the real danger for Europe which stems from the actions of the United States in this sphere.
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A few days ago a serious breakdown took place at the South-Ukrainian NPP. In the course of the new accident, one of the power units of the nuclear power plant was shut down. The fuel elements provided by Westinghouse, which are different from those manufactured in Russia, were loaded into the disconnected power unit of the South Ukrainian NPP, built according to USSR regulations and designed exclusively for Russian fuel standards. Westinghouse products are now used not only at the two power units of the South-Ukrainian NPP, but also at the Zaporizhia NPP.
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The source of the publication, who preferred to remain anonymous, claimed that Westinghouse is seeking to get a share in the fuel services market in Eastern Europe, since this is the only way to prevent the bankruptcy of this company.
And in March, the Westinghouse Electric Corporation filed for bankruptcy because of losses reaching almost $ 7 billion.
Now that the American nuclear brand has lost its former glory, Ukraine, in fact, remains one on one with reactors rendered useless by unsuitable fuel. And, given the concern of the West with the unprecedented level of corruption in Kiev, no one will take the risk of allocating money for the security “in the center of Europe”. And without this, Forbes notes, a ‘second Chernobyl’ is becoming a viable terrifying possibly not only for the nearest countries neighboring Ukraine, but also for Europe as a whole, thanks to the toxic presence of the legacy of the American administration. And if not the fate of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where fuel was thrown out during the explosion, the scenario of the Three Mile Island NPP in Pennsylvania, where the active zone of the reactor melted and will remain in this state forever, is predicted by a number of experts.
Read more at US Neglects the Safety of Nuclear Power Plants in Europe
