Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, Guangdong Province, China (Photo: SCMP) Late on June 14, the US media reported that authorities in Washington spent a whole week assessing a report on a possible radioactive leak at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant (Taishan). ) in Guangdong province, China, after a French company warned of an “imminent radiation threat”. Responding to the news, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian confirmed that radiation levels at the Taishan power plant were normal and there were no safety concerns to report. “There is nothing abnormal in the radiation levels around this nuclear power plant, and safety is still guaranteed,” Trieu said at a press conference on June 15. concerned, the current situation at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant meets the technical requirements.” He also emphasized that Beijing pays close attention to nuclear safety issues and has a nuclear safety control/management system that fully meets international and domestic standards. Zhao made the statement after the US channel CNN reported earlier this week that the UN Security Council had spent a week assessing the report on the risk of radioactive “leakage” at Taishan. and held “many” meetings on this issue. Framatome – a French nuclear reactor manufacturer that holds a stake in the Taishan plant – is said to have alerted authorities at the US Department of Energy through a letter about the “threat of leakage”. impending radioactive leak” and accused the Chinese government of raising the allowable radiation level to avoid shutting down the power plant. According to a memo cited by CNN, Framatome has sent a letter of petition to Washington to get the US to remove sanctions., It is known that China’s atomic energy industry has been subject to many restrictions imposed by the US. since 2019, due to concerns about the industry’s relationship with the Chinese military. Beijing has criticized the US decision, while some observers say the sanctions are politically motivated. On Sunday, the Dai Son plant also released a statement indicating that radiation levels in and around the plant were “normal” and that its reactors were in good working order. “All performance indicators of the two units meet nuclear safety regulations and plant technical regulations,” the statement said. Last Friday, Framatome released a statement saying that “according to production data, the plant is operating below safety indicators”. However, despite these claims, several US media outlets continued to report on the situation in Taishan, with Newsweek magazine publishing an article titled “Leakage at the Chinese nuclear power plant”. Quoc is reminiscent of Chernobyl, while Taishan insists it is safe.” This article also claims that there are many reports indicating that Taishan brings back “the memories of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, when the Soviet Union mitigated the problem of radiation levels at one of the nuclear power plants. their nuclear power”. Several other agencies, including Bloomberg, also recalled the Chernobyl incident when reporting on Taishan. France’s Electricite de France (EDF) – the parent company of Framatome – owns a 30% stake in the Taishan plant, along with China Atomic Energy Corporation. The plant consists of two reactors located in southern China, about 75 km from Macao, 140 km west of Hong Kong. This plant started operating between 2018 – 2019 and is said to be the “new generation” of nuclear reactor technology.

Ruins of a former children’s play area in Chernobyl. A dust-covered nuclear power plant, nestled among rubble piles and abandoned buildings is not a reminder of UNESCO’s world cultural heritage. But the Ukrainian government has ambitions to win this title for the Chernobyl plant. If successful, Chernobyl will join the ranks of the most iconic monuments to human culture and civilization, such as the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the great pillars of Stonehenge, the Forbidden City of Beijing and the high-rise Easter Island in Rapa Nui. According to the UNESCO website, in order to be considered for inclusion on the World Heritage List, a site “must have outstanding universal value” and ensures at least one quality that matches the agency’s selection criteria. this. Some of the locations on the list represent spectacular and unique examples of natural grandeur, such as Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks in the United States; Halong Bay of Vietnam; Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Pristine Białowieża Forest between Russia and Belarus. Other locations, China’s Great Wall, Mexico’s Chichén Itzá ruins and the city of Venice, Italy, have earned a spot on the list for their importance in human history as well as its rare beauty. them. The sites on the list have certain legal protection and may receive financial support from the World Heritage Fund to help conserve it, according to UNESCO. In order for a site to be eligible for UNESCO listing, it must first be added to the list of historical and cultural heritage in its country of origin. According to the Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko: “We believe that the inclusion of Chernobyl on the UNESCO heritage list is the first and important step towards making this wonderful place a featured tourist destination for all mankind. care. The importance of the Chernobyl region goes far beyond Ukraine’s borders. It is not only about memories, but also about history and human rights ”. In fact, the tourism industry has been booming in the forbidden zone. One of the cities in the region – Pripyat, home to about 49,000 people in 1986 – is today an apocalyptic ghost town; The homes, schools and hospitals are uninhabited and are home to plants and wildlife. The forbidden zone was first opened to visitors in 2010, and Pripyat’s bizarre, overgrown buildings quickly became a popular destination for photographers and travel enthusiasts. disaster site. But the Chernobyl tourism industry really took off after the success of the 2019 thriller series on HBO, “Chernobyl”. Guides in Ukraine reported tour bookings in 2019 were up 30% from the previous year. About 124,000 tourists visited Chernobyl last year and about 100,000 of them came from outside Ukraine. Scientists are also monitoring Chernobyl to track how wildlife in the forbidden area adapts to levels of radiation exposure making the area unsafe for humans – and some findings They are surprisingly positive. For example, recent surveys show that gray wolves (Canis lupus) are thriving near Chernobyl, partly because they have many prey and many territories that have not yet been affected by humans. And a rare Asian wild horse known as the Przewalski (Equus ferus przewalskii) is also thriving in the restricted area.

Recently, Ukraine is trying to put Chernobyl on the list of protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In the photo: A bedroom of a kindergarten near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Pripyat city, Ukraine. (Source: Reuters) According to Ukraine’s Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko, the proposal to include Chernobyl on the UNESCO heritage list is the first and important step for the site to become a unique destination of interest to all mankind. In the photo: The abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Source: Reuters) Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said, before submitting an application to the United Nations, the desired sites protected by UNESCO must be included in the list of national historical and cultural heritages. (Source: Reuters) Hence, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture recently decided to include a military radar built near the city of Chernobyl in the 1970s on this list and is also discussing a similar plan for the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – the restricted zone with a radius of 30km from the center is the nuclear reactors. In the photo: The radar system was installed near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Source: Reuters) On April 26, 1986, the 4th reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Pripyat, 108 kilometers north of Kiev, exploded. According to many scientists, the cause of the accident was defects in the reactor’s design, especially the control rods; and non-compliance with the safety rules of nuclear power plant employees. However, some independent experts today believe that none of the above two assumptions are completely correct. (Source: Reuters) About 190 tons of radioactive material was released into the atmosphere; Radioactive dust clouds spread throughout Europe such as the western Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavie, England, and East America. In the photo: The view inside a house in the abandoned village of Zalissya, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. (Source: Reuters) The killing of 31 workers and firefighters left thousands more battling radiation-related illnesses, such as cancer. In the photo: A house in the abandoned village of Poliske near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. (Source: Reuters) Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were severely polluted, evacuating and resettled for more than 336,000 people; about 60% of the radioactive cloud fell on Belarusian territory. (Source: Reuters) This is considered the most serious catastrophe in the history of nuclear energy, emitting 400 times more radiation than the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. (Source: Reuters) To overcome this, thousands of tons of soil were removed from the contaminated area, and contaminated machinery and equipment were buried in a special burial site. A 30km quarantine zone has been created around the plant, and people have been evacuated. (Source: Reuters) An area of ​​more than 4,000 square kilometers around the former location of the power plant was uninhabitable. To date, the total number of people killed and suffered from long-term health effects remains the subject of fierce debate. In the photo: Engineers check the structure and radioactivity at the control room of the No. 4 reactor (Source: Reuters) Much of the area around the nuclear plant is abandoned, with buildings in ruins. All the buildings in Pripyat, a town once inhabited by 50,000 people, mainly working in factories, are in need of repair. In the photo: An abandoned building in the city of Pripyat. (Source: Reuters) Image of a Ukrainian engineer inspecting the inside of the No. 3 reactor, which has been decommissioned for many years. Engineers who come into the reactors to inspect the inside of the reactors must wear impermeable clothing on the outside, wear specialized masks and radiometric equipment. (Source: Reuters) The 1986 calendar remains on the wall of a house in the village of Zalissya. (Source: Reuters) A kindergarten in Pripyat was burned down by the explosion. (Source: Reuters) Remnants left in the village of Poliske abandoned in the Chernobyl region. (Source: Reuters) The third reactor’s control center remains intact. (Source: Reuters) The view inside a house in Zalissya. (Source: Reuters) In 1997, the Chernobyl International Shelter Foundation was formed to design and build a more permanent cover for the concrete “coffin” that covers the unstable and insecure No. 4 reactor. By 2010, a new “coffin” named New Safe Confinement was started to build. Unlike the old structure, New Confinement is designed to safely dismantle a reactor with a remote operating device. In the photo: The abandoned city of Pripyat. (Source: Reutes) This work will be built on the track adjacent to the reactor building 4, completed in 2016. A new metal dome at Chernobyl will cover the demolished reactor to prevent radioactive material from leaking out. out. The dome weighing 36,000 tons and 108 meters high, worth € 1.5 billion ($ 1.7 billion) was paid through a special fund of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Sponsored by 45 countries. The dome is strong enough to withstand storms and has a lifespan of up to 100 years, the EBRD said. In the photo: New Safe Confinement project seen from afar. (Source: Reuters) Life is back in the wilderness. In July 2019, President Volydymyr Zelensky signed a decree in July that designated Chernobyl as an official tourist attraction. In the photo: A moose on a deserted road in the Chernobyl region. (Source: Reuters) In 2019, the HBO drama Chernobyl caused visitors to skyrocket, to 120,000. Accordingly, those wishing to witness the highly radioactive area at the infamous No. 4 Reactor will be provided with protective vests, helmets, and poison masks and can only stay in short time. After they leave, they will have to undergo two x-ray tests to measure exposure. (Source: Reuters) The move is part of an effort by the Government of Ukraine to encourage tourism in the region. (Source: Reuters) On April 26, Ukraine will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko expects Chernobyl – which has become a popular spot for adventure travelers before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, will start attracting tourists again. In the photo: An abandoned village house in Zalissya. (Source: Reuters) (Reuters)