My father, whose study of the Chernobyl death count I posted recently, reminded me that he also wrote a piece on the “the sheer number of questionable actions and the outright lies” related to the disaster. In particular, this one deserves much more attention:
There are 111 RBMK Chernobyl-type reactors that are operating today in the Russian Federation. Russia says that these have been modified and enhanced and that they are safer than they were, but observations by experienced nuclear engineers makes it clear that this type of reactor would not be allowed today in Western Europe or in the United States. Closing them would be economically difficult for the Russian Federation because they provide one-third of all their current nuclear electric power. Although the IAEA should ask for visits and analysis of the safety of these 11 nuclear reactors today.
Read the full thing starting on page 14 of the Summer 2017 edition of the newsletter of the Federation of American Scientists.
There are 10 RBMK Reactors now operating in Russia. One in Leningrad closed on December 21, 2018, after this article was written.↩︎
