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The Nuke Issue: Inside Kyiv’s Radiation Monitoring Stations [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-07-09
This is our nuclear crisis issue: how it feels in Ukraine to be living under a potential nuclear emergency on a daily basis. Below, in section three, we discuss how we’re personally preparing and the gear we’re using. THANK YOU for being a paid subscriber and helping us pay for it — and if you’re not, what are you waiting for?
Volodymyr Anfimov says he isn’t that worried about a nuclear catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), about 275 miles southeast of Kyiv.
Anfimov, 47, has to keep a cool head if he is to serve his city in the event of radiation exposure. He inherited his understanding of nuclear risks from his dad, who was based in the most famous nuclear plant of them all.
“My father worked in the Chernobyl Plant Station,” said Anfimov, a spokesperson for Kyiv’s Department of Environmental Protection and Adaptation to Climate Change. “He is a scientist. And I ask him, ‘Tell me, please. Should we be worried about it?’ He's a specialist in nuclear disasters and said, ‘Don't worry. For Kyiv, it should be okay.’ But of course, it would be a national disaster, and it’s on the back of our minds.”
Ukraine’s recent history is inseparable from the specter of nuclear disaster. The Chernobyl catastrophe of 1986, which rendered about 1,000 square miles uninhabitable, still looms large in the nation’s collective memory. Reports that the Russian army may have mined some portions of the ZNPP have renewed fears of a similar catastrophe.
One of Kyiv’s seven weather and radiation monitoring stations (Christopher Allbritton)
Despite these worries, Anfimov insists Kyiv is prepared. His department manages seven weather monitoring stations across the city that continuously record dust and pollutants. “It analyzes 15 different pollution substances in the air,” he said. In addition, radiation detectors were installed in the seven monitoring stations in 2022, shortly after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. Data from these detectors is sent to a central database and made accessible to Kyiv's residents through an app called Kyiv Digital. If any abnormality is detected, the Department of Civil Safety springs into action. For Anfimov, this is more than just a job—it’s personal. He has many friends in Zaporizhzhia with small children and worries about their safety. Despite the constant stress, Anfimov encourages optimism: “Every time you hear an air raid siren, it means a rocket or drone is approaching your city. And you could be the next target. Yet, you hope everything will be fine... You have to be an optimist, and you have to think the future will be better just to function.” The image shows Kyiv’s radiation levels. On Friday night, for example, the city showed that levels were normal and safe across the city. If the green boxes were yellow or red, however, that’s a problem.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/9/2180100/-The-Nuke-Issue-Inside-Kyiv-s-Radiation-Monitoring-Stations
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