Europe’s Nuclear Nightmare Isn’t Even Close to Over
Russian forces have not only looted and destroyed a laboratory used to monitor nuclear waste at Chernobyl, but an undetonated rocket is now primed to explode at any minute in a Kharkiv nuclear facility, Ukrainian regulators said Wednesday.
The country’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said personnel checking out the nuclear subcritical facility Neutron Source on Wednesday found an “object, preliminarily determined to be an unexploded MLRS 9K58 Smerch projectile,” which it warns creates “a potential danger of a new explosion in the immediate vicinity of a nuclear installation.”
While no damage was reported to parts of the facility that would immediately affect safety, regulators said it was impossible to disarm the rocket because of “constant battles in the area.”