Named a new scenario for the explosion of Ukraine’s “dirty bomb”: hit a square kilometer

About what IAEA experts can see at these two Ukrainian facilities, we talked with the former head of the Inspectorate for Supervision of Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Nuclear Facilities of the USSR Gosatomnadzor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Kuznetsov.

“At the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in the city of Zhovtiye Vody, uranium ore is mined and processed into uranium concentrate, which contains uranium oxide — U3O8 — the so-called “yellow cake,” says the professor. – This enterprise was built in 1951 and was called – the industrial facility “Combine No. 9”. Zhovti Vody was a city of allied subordination with a closed status and a special security regime. The ore was mined there. I was there at one time, the mine there is a thousand hundred meters, a continuous hell, the temperature is under 50 degrees with almost one hundred percent humidity.

As Professor Kuznetsov says, “yellow cake” is an intermediate product. To obtain nuclear fuel, it is required to convert uranium into a gaseous compound with fluorine – UF6 hexafluoride. The third stage is the isotope enrichment of uranium, the fourth one is the reverse conversion of gaseous enriched uranium hexafluoride into uranium dioxide powder – UO2. And then pressing it into uranium pellets, which are then placed in tubes made of zirconium alloy (fuel elements – TVELs).

— There was no closed cycle for the production of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants in Ukraine and there is not. It is beyond its power either economically or technologically. The uranium concentrate from Zhovtiye Vody was sent to the territory of Russia for its final refinement and enrichment. And then the nuclear fuel was returned to the territory of Ukraine. Now, apparently, they are sending uranium concentrate to France. This is the only country in Europe that has a full cycle of uranium concentrate handling.

In the near future, IAEA inspectors are going to visit the mining and processing plant in Zhovti Vody. It is assumed that they will take some samples, and then analyze them.

“To be honest, I don’t understand why they go to this plant,” says Professor Kuznetsov. – What “dirty bomb” can be obtained from uranium concentrate? In order for some territory to be contaminated or contaminated, about 10-20 tons of uranium concentrate is needed. Place explosives inside and detonate. As a result, a funnel will appear, there will be radioactive contamination, but it will be weak. They will remove the layer of soil, and that will be the end of it.

The Ukrainian side tried to create something similar to a “dirty bomb” on the basis of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where there is radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

Representatives of the IAEA during their visit to Ukraine also intend to visit the Kyiv Institute for Nuclear Research.

— There is an old research reactor. But, in my opinion, everything that concerns the creation of a bomb there using spent nuclear fuel, Ukraine is now beyond its power. It has neither the people nor the purely technical capabilities for this.

According to the professor, Ukraine can now use sources of ionizing radiation as a “dirty bomb”, which are involved in metallurgy, chemical plants, oil and gas production and medicine.

“It is necessary to check all these enterprises, although it is clear that the system for accounting and controlling sources of ionizing radiation collapsed there long ago. In Mariupol, on the territory of two metallurgical giants, the plant named after Ilyich and Azovstal, large-scale military operations were carried out. There, in the production of products, dozens of sources of ionizing radiation were involved. Questions arise: where are they now? Where were they taken? In whose hands are they?

The doctor of technical sciences believes that sources with cesium-137, cesium-134, cobalt-60, californium-252 and so on can now be used.

– What area can be contaminated in this case?

– The maximum is a kilometer per kilometer. If this is urban development, then even less, if it is an open field, a little more, because the wind can carry radioactive isotopes. Therefore, when some “experts” say that an explosion of a source may pollute an area of ​​1.5 thousand kilometers, I would like to doubt their competence, since this is unrealistic.

Kyiv, apparently, needs the very fact that the “dirty bomb” has been detonated. The fact that the charge is low-power is a second matter. The main thing is to arrange a provocation and accuse the Russian side of using weapons of mass destruction with all the ensuing consequences.

Vladimir Kuznetsov emphasizes that no one in the world has previously undermined sources of ionizing radiation.

– A similar act of nuclear terrorism was attempted by Basayev’s gang in 1995 in Moscow. In the Grozny region there was a special plant “Radon” for the disposal of radioactive substances and spent sources of ionizing radiation. The militants opened this vault, pulled out several sources of cesium-137, brought them to Moscow and buried them in Izmailovsky Park. But in this case, they worked quickly, the militants were caught, the containers were removed from the ground and disposed of. During the hostilities, control over the vault was restored.

In 2003, at the initiative of Russia and the United States, an international conference was held. The 140 states that were present committed themselves to taking all measures to reduce the threats to create “dirty bombs”.

Now, according to sources in different countries, the Kyiv regime plans to detonate a “dirty bomb” on its territory, and their Western curators are helping them in this.