Fire at Nuclear Instutute near St. Petersburg. It's time to think about the future!

A fire began during the repair of the roof of Building 102 of the Aleksandrov Research Institute of Nuclear Technology (RINT, Russian abbreviation is NITI) on May 31, 2016 at about 14:00. The building that caught on fire is a pressurized water nuclear reactor, safety-testing modes Russian nuclear submarines.

A fire began during the repair of the roof of Building 102 of the Aleksandrov Research Institute of Nuclear Technology (RINT, Russian abbreviation is NITI) on May 31, 2016 at about 14:00. The building that caught on fire is a pressurized water nuclear reactor, safety-testing modes Russian nuclear submarines.

Several fire brigades of Sosnovy Bor and St. Petersburg worked to extinguish the fire. The radiation background at the center of Sosnovy Bor until 22:00, May 21, remained as usual (10 - 15) micro-Roentgen per hour (0.10 - 0.15 micro-Sievert per hour). This is the result of measurement of a Green World dosimeter, which passed state verification.

The management of RINT has said nothing about the consequences of the fire for its nuclear installation. Management has also not reported if the nuclear installation was operating at the time of the fire. Even more serious accidents at military nuclear sites usually remain without comment.

For example, an abnormal operation of the system for battery-free dampening of the nuclear facility in this building of RINT took place on June 20, 1979 and resulted in a steam explosion. The building partially collapsed. Two people died. The fact of this accident remained secret and was left without comment for nearly 20 years.

The lack of a unified approach in the analysis of the acceptability of the deployment of military and civilian nuclear facilities creates the illusion of the acceptability of an infinite increase in the number of such facilities in one place.

Up to now the nine nuclear reactors was constructed in Alexandrov RINT and Leningrad NPP (LNPP).

Four new nuclear reactors is under construction on Leningrad NPP-2 (LNPP-2). And temporary storages of spent nuclear fuel of LNPP (TSSNF) and Alexandrov RINT have the spent nuclear assemblies for more than 20 reactors. There are no analyzes in terms of the acceptability of the risk of their simultaneous existence on the same patch of Baltic coast within a radius 2 km, and 40 km from St. Petersburg, a city of five million residents!

The simultaneous operation of “aged reactors,"RINT and LNPP, having already used up their design limit, together with the new reactors of LNPP-2, could be disastrous.

It is understood that the probability of accidents is higher both for newer and older reactors during their mid-life period of operation.

Steps are needed to avoid irreparable social, economic, environmental and political
consequences, when one serious accident in Sosnovy Bor with the release of radioactivity may make it impossible to operate all the other nuclear facilities. This would threaten the existing

approach in the region for both Russians and our

neighbors in the Baltic Region. Such an accident

could close Russia’s “Window to Europe,” dating

back to Peter the Great, and have grave and

strategic consequences for both Russia and

Europe.

The Alexandrov RINT fire is a signal that should

be heard by decision makers!

It is essential that an analysis be completed about

the acceptability of the risk of further operation of

such a nuclear cluster on the south shore of the

Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea.

On the photos from the top to down:

1. Alexandrov RINT Fire: View from the road.

2. Alexandrov RINT Fire: View from the

construction site of LNPP-2;

3. Alexandrov RINT Fire: View from the town

beach of Sosnovy Bor

4. Alexandrov RINT Fire: View from the Sosnovy

Bor

More detailed information can be found on the

GREEN WORLD site www.greenworld.org.ru

and by mobile phone +7 921 74 52 631

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THE ISSUE WAS PREPARED by Oleg Bodrov, Gennady

The photos from Sosnovy Bor town internet network

The transfer of our information is welcome. When reprinting please refer to our periodical.

Shabarin, Nathaniel Trumbull.