When the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it’s a “grave hour,” the world has got to act fast..That’s what IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday..Grossi was talking about the ongoing shelling at the nuclear power complex in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine — the largest in Europe — that could lead to an explosion or massive radiation leaks..Have these warmongering maniacs behind the bombing forgotten Chernobyl?.Are their souls so black they don’t care?.Decades after visiting the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster — maybe for now — it’s impossible to forget the ensuing suffering and devastation. .I visited hospitals across Ukraine, from Kiev to Odessa to Zaporizhzhia to Luhansk. Haunting memories of the faces of children wasting away in agony from cancer caused by that radiation linger. .The ferris wheel forever stopped in the evacuated — to this day — city of Pripyat, population 50,000, three-km away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that blew April 26, 1986..That day, people stood on the bridge with children on their shoulders watching the fire at the plant, inhaling plumes of radiation streaming in the air that eventually blew across Ukraine and into Russia, Belarus, Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe..I travelled across Ukraine three times in 1992-93 to help deliver $3 million in medicine and medical supplies raised through the Ukrainian Canadian Congress-led Project Na Zdorovia (To Health) for victims of Chernobyl. .Those hospitals had little or nothing..With Ukraine now caught in the ravages of war since being invaded by Russia in February, hospitals — those still standing after Russia’s relentless bombing — will be even more ill-equipped to handle another nuclear disaster..But someone’s repeatedly shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex, on the Dnieper River, striking near the site where radioactive materials are stored..Energoatom, Ukraine’s state energy company, blamed Russian forces that seized the area..TASS, the Russian state-owned news agency, blamed Ukrainian forces..Who to believe?.Putin is a sociopathic monster on a mission.. Zaporizhzhia plantZaporizhzhia plant .Ukraine — yes it was invaded — is governed by some corrupt-to-the-core officials who care more about buying themselves fancy dachas and villas abroad with foreign ‘war-effort’ money flowing in, than they do about the Ukrainian people. .I saw the corruption first-hand when government-appointed ‘help’ pulled dirty tricks and used intimidation tactics to try to get their mitts on the antibiotics (worth their weight in gold on the black market at the time) meant for suffering children. .The ongoing bombing around the Zaphorizhzhia nuclear plant inspired the UN Security Council to call Thursday’s emergency meeting..So yes, it’s grave indeed.."Regrettably, instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement..He repeated a call for forces to “cease immediately” and stop targeting “facilities or surroundings.”."Urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarization to ensure the safety of the area," said Guterres..Finally, the the United States called for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant..Meanwhile, the IAEA has been warning the shelling could lead to “nuclear disaster” and asked for “utmost restraint” in the area..For months the IAEA has tried unsuccessfully to get an inspection team into the plant operated by Ukrainians and surrounded by Russian military..Grossi said the situation is “completely out of control.”.“Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated,” he told the Associated Press..That was last week..All these red flags, all these stern warnings — yet the shelling that could cause damage to critical infrastructure and the reactors continues..The whole world could possibly suffer the consequences. The winds could carry an invisible radioactive cloud anywhere..Experts agree an explosion is possible, but the greatest threat is a leak of radiation from one of the 10 largest global largest power plants. .Yet these high-paid experts have been wringing their hands and seem helpless to stop a few renegades..Maybe after today somebody — anybody — will act..What’s happening in Zaporizhzhia is intentional, diabolical..Chernobyl was an accident caused during a routine test of the emergency water cooling system to see if it would work during a power loss. .The cooling system failed, and Reactor No. 4 blew, followed by another explosion that blasted a 1,000-ton roof off one reactor..Who knows how many tens of thousands Chernobyl victims suffered and eventually died? .Blacklock’s Reporter Publisher Holly Doan was part of a CBC crew on the first medical airlift — an Antonov 225 packed full of aid from Canada..Even the mighty Antonov couldn’t hold all that generosity. Two more trips to Ukraine to deliver supplies was necessary..Doan’s series on Chernobyl was remarkable. But one doesn’t witness that kind of human suffering and simply forget..“We met bald children undergoing treatment in a Ukrainian hospital whose village had been blanketed with radiation. Thirty years later, I still wonder what became of them. Did they survive?” said Doan Thursday. .It can’t happen again. It just can’t.
When the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it’s a “grave hour,” the world has got to act fast..That’s what IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday..Grossi was talking about the ongoing shelling at the nuclear power complex in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine — the largest in Europe — that could lead to an explosion or massive radiation leaks..Have these warmongering maniacs behind the bombing forgotten Chernobyl?.Are their souls so black they don’t care?.Decades after visiting the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster — maybe for now — it’s impossible to forget the ensuing suffering and devastation. .I visited hospitals across Ukraine, from Kiev to Odessa to Zaporizhzhia to Luhansk. Haunting memories of the faces of children wasting away in agony from cancer caused by that radiation linger. .The ferris wheel forever stopped in the evacuated — to this day — city of Pripyat, population 50,000, three-km away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that blew April 26, 1986..That day, people stood on the bridge with children on their shoulders watching the fire at the plant, inhaling plumes of radiation streaming in the air that eventually blew across Ukraine and into Russia, Belarus, Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe..I travelled across Ukraine three times in 1992-93 to help deliver $3 million in medicine and medical supplies raised through the Ukrainian Canadian Congress-led Project Na Zdorovia (To Health) for victims of Chernobyl. .Those hospitals had little or nothing..With Ukraine now caught in the ravages of war since being invaded by Russia in February, hospitals — those still standing after Russia’s relentless bombing — will be even more ill-equipped to handle another nuclear disaster..But someone’s repeatedly shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex, on the Dnieper River, striking near the site where radioactive materials are stored..Energoatom, Ukraine’s state energy company, blamed Russian forces that seized the area..TASS, the Russian state-owned news agency, blamed Ukrainian forces..Who to believe?.Putin is a sociopathic monster on a mission.. Zaporizhzhia plantZaporizhzhia plant .Ukraine — yes it was invaded — is governed by some corrupt-to-the-core officials who care more about buying themselves fancy dachas and villas abroad with foreign ‘war-effort’ money flowing in, than they do about the Ukrainian people. .I saw the corruption first-hand when government-appointed ‘help’ pulled dirty tricks and used intimidation tactics to try to get their mitts on the antibiotics (worth their weight in gold on the black market at the time) meant for suffering children. .The ongoing bombing around the Zaphorizhzhia nuclear plant inspired the UN Security Council to call Thursday’s emergency meeting..So yes, it’s grave indeed.."Regrettably, instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement..He repeated a call for forces to “cease immediately” and stop targeting “facilities or surroundings.”."Urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarization to ensure the safety of the area," said Guterres..Finally, the the United States called for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant..Meanwhile, the IAEA has been warning the shelling could lead to “nuclear disaster” and asked for “utmost restraint” in the area..For months the IAEA has tried unsuccessfully to get an inspection team into the plant operated by Ukrainians and surrounded by Russian military..Grossi said the situation is “completely out of control.”.“Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated,” he told the Associated Press..That was last week..All these red flags, all these stern warnings — yet the shelling that could cause damage to critical infrastructure and the reactors continues..The whole world could possibly suffer the consequences. The winds could carry an invisible radioactive cloud anywhere..Experts agree an explosion is possible, but the greatest threat is a leak of radiation from one of the 10 largest global largest power plants. .Yet these high-paid experts have been wringing their hands and seem helpless to stop a few renegades..Maybe after today somebody — anybody — will act..What’s happening in Zaporizhzhia is intentional, diabolical..Chernobyl was an accident caused during a routine test of the emergency water cooling system to see if it would work during a power loss. .The cooling system failed, and Reactor No. 4 blew, followed by another explosion that blasted a 1,000-ton roof off one reactor..Who knows how many tens of thousands Chernobyl victims suffered and eventually died? .Blacklock’s Reporter Publisher Holly Doan was part of a CBC crew on the first medical airlift — an Antonov 225 packed full of aid from Canada..Even the mighty Antonov couldn’t hold all that generosity. Two more trips to Ukraine to deliver supplies was necessary..Doan’s series on Chernobyl was remarkable. But one doesn’t witness that kind of human suffering and simply forget..“We met bald children undergoing treatment in a Ukrainian hospital whose village had been blanketed with radiation. Thirty years later, I still wonder what became of them. Did they survive?” said Doan Thursday. .It can’t happen again. It just can’t.
