'Bayraktar!': Ukrainian army shares song celebrating Turkish-made drone fighting back at Russian invasion

The New Arab Staff
02 March, 2022
#BayraktarTB2 trends on social media platforms as the official page of the Ukrainian army shared a song celebrating the Turkish-made drone in their fight against the Russian invasion.


The Bayraktar TB2 drone is produced by Turkish defence company Baykar [Anadolu via Getty]

Ukraine’s armed forces have shared a song dedicated to the Bayraktar TB2, a Turkish-made armed drone that has been a key weapon in Ukraine's fight against the invading Russian army.

The catchy song was shared on the official Facebook page of the "Land Forces of Ukraine".

The lyrics include the promise of “Bayraktar's punishment in the name of Ukrainian children, Georgians, Syrians, Chechens, and Crimean Tatars”. This likely refers to Russia's long list of military invasions and operations against various countries and communities in recent years.

The song is going viral on social media, with dozens of users sharing the song alongside the hashtag #BayraktarTB2.

Many of the tweets include footage of the drones purportedly destroying Russian targets as Moscow tries to take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 armed drones at work. The Russian BUK was destroyed in the area of Malina Zhytomyr region. — Ukrainian military

Bayraktar TB2 were supplied by Turkey. And they are working very smoothly against the Russian weaponry
pic.twitter.com/n5uzsyJGbK — Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) February 27, 2022

Ukraine and Turkey have been close defence partners over the past few years. Baykar, the company that produces the TB2 drones, has close ties to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and was meant to build a plant to produce these weapons within Ukraine.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said Wednesday that it had received and deployed a new batch of the drones but did not say how many it had received.

Ukrainian drone enthusiasts sign up to repel Russian forces

By MATT O'BRIEN

In better times, Ukrainian drone enthusiasts flew their gadgets into the sky to photograph weddings, fertilize soybean fields or race other drones for fun. Now some are risking their lives by forming a volunteer drone force to help their country repel the Russian invasion.

“Kyiv needs you and your drone at this moment of fury!” read a Facebook post late last week from the Ukrainian military, calling for citizens to donate hobby drones and to volunteer as experienced pilots to operate them.

One entrepreneur who runs a retail store selling consumer drones in the capital said its entire stock of some 300 drones made by Chinese company DJI has been dispersed for the cause. Others are working to get more drones across the border from friends and colleagues in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.

“Why are we doing this? We have no other choice. This is our land, our home,” said Denys Sushko, head of operations at Kyiv-based industrial drone technology company DroneUA, which before the war was helping to provide drone services to farmers and energy companies.

Sushko fled his home late last week after his family had to take cover from a nearby explosion. He spoke to The Associated Press by phone and text message Friday after climbing up a tree for better reception.

“We try to use absolutely everything that can help protect our country and drones are a great tool for getting real-time data,” said Sushko, who doesn’t have a drone with him but is providing expertise. “Now in Ukraine no one remains indifferent. Everyone does what they can.”

Unlike the much larger Turkish-built combat drones that Ukraine has in its arsenal, off-the-shelf consumer drones aren’t much use as weapons — but they can be powerful reconnaissance tools. Civilians have been using the aerial cameras to track Russian convoys and then relay the images and GPS coordinates to Ukrainian troops. Some of the machines have night vision and heat sensors.

But there’s a downside: DJI, the leading provider of consumer drones in Ukraine and around the world, provides a tool that can easily pinpoint the location of an inexperienced drone operator, and no one really knows what the Chinese firm or its customers might do with that data. That makes some volunteers uneasy. DJI declined to discuss specifics about how it has responded to the war.

Taras Troiak, a dealer of DJI drones who started the Kyiv retail store, said DJI has been sending mixed signals about whether it’s providing preferential access to — or disabling — its drone detection platform AeroScope, which both sides of the conflict can potentially use to monitor the other’s flight paths and the communication links between a drone and the device that’s controlling it.

DJI spokesperson Adam Lisberg said wartime uses were “never anticipated” when the company created AeroScope to give policing and aviation authorities — including clients in both Russia and Ukraine — a window into detecting drones flying in their immediate airspace. He said some users in Ukraine have reported technical problems but DJI has not disabled the tool or given preferential access.

In the meantime, Ukrainian drone experts said they’ve been doing whatever they can to teach operators how to protect their whereabouts.

“There are a number of tricks that allow you to increase the level of security when using them,” Sushko said.

This 2022 aerial image provided by Ukrainian security forces, taken by a drone and shown on a screen, shows a blown-up building near the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. The exact date and time of the image are unknown. In better times, Ukrainian drone enthusiasts flew their gadgets into the sky to photograph weddings, fertilize soybean fields or race other drones for fun. Now some are risking their lives by forming a volunteer drone force to help their country repel the Russian invasion. 

(Ukrainian Security Forces via AP)

Sushko said many in the industry are now trying to get more small drones — including DJI alternatives — transported into Ukraine from neighboring European countries. They can also be used to assist search-and-rescue operations.

Ukraine has a thriving community of drone experts, some of whom were educated at the National Aviation University or the nearby Kyiv Polytechnic University and went on to found local drone and robotics startups.

“They’ve got this homebuilt industry and all these smart people who build drones,” said Faine Greenwood, a U.S.-based consultant on drones for civic uses such as disaster response.

Troiak’s DJI-branded store in Kyiv, which is now shuttered as city residents take shelter, was a hub for that community because it runs a maintenance center and hosts training sessions and a hobby club. Even the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, once paid a visit to the store to buy a drone for one of his children, Troiak said.

A public drone-focused Facebook group administered by Troiak counts more than 15,000 members who have been trading tips about how to assist Ukrainian troops. One drone photographer who belongs to the Ukrainian Association of Drone Racing team told The Associated Press he decided to donate his DJI Mavic drone to the military rather than try to fly it himself. He and others asked not to be named out of fear for their safety.

“The risk to civilian drone operators inside Ukraine is still great,” said Australian drone security expert Mike Monnik. “Locating the operator’s location could result in directed missile fire, given what we’ve seen in the fighting so far. It’s no longer rules of engagement as we have had in previous conflicts.” In recent days, Russian-language channels on the messaging app Telegram have featured discussions on ways to find Ukrainian drones, Monnik said.

Some in Ukraine’s drone community already have experience deploying their expertise in conflict zones because of the country’s long-running conflict with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Monnik’s firm, DroneSec, has tracked multiple instances just in the past year of both sides of that conflict arming small drones with explosives. One thing that Ukrainians said they’ve learned is that small quadcopter drones, such as those sold at stores, are rarely effective at hitting a target with explosive payloads.

“It would seem somewhat short-sighted to waste one,” said Greenwood, the consultant based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “I assume the chief goal would be recon. But if things are getting desperate, who knows.”

DJI also has experience in responding to warfighters trying to weaponize its drones and used so-called “geofencing” technology to block drone movements during conflicts in Syria and Iraq. It’s not clear yet if it will do the same in Ukraine; even if it does, there are ways to work around it.

Small civilian drones are no match against Russian combat power but will likely become increasingly important in a protracted war, leaving drone-makers no option to be completely neutral. Any action they take or avoid is “indirectly taking a side,” said P.W. Singer, a New America fellow who wrote a book about war robots.

“We will see ad-hoc arming of these small civilian drones much the way we’ve seen that done in conflicts around the world from Syria to Iraq and Yemen and Afghanistan,” Singer said. “Just like an IED or a Molotov cocktail, they won’t change the tide of battle but they will definitely make it difficult for Russian soldiers.”

——

AP video journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.

Cracks starting to show in Vladimir Putin's Ukraine plans

news.com.au

By Jamie Seidel

4 Mar, 2022

The cracks are beginning to show. Vladimir Putin's plans are fraying around the edges. Now he's doubling down on staying in control.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

Russia's special forces, paratroops and elite tank units were meant to surround Ukraine's key cities within two days. Their citizens were supposed to revolt, welcoming Russian troops as liberators. The rest of Moscow's forces would then secure key strategic sites – their menacing presence warning the West to back off.

Russian soldiers thought they were just taking part in another exercise. Photo / Getty Image

But Russian President Vladimir Putin's dream has become a nightmare.

Ukraine's cities are holding out.

Citizens are resisting with determination.

Its military remains a coherent – if battered – force to reckon with.

"He underestimated his opposition, overestimated the capability of his own forces. So now we are clearly on Plan B," Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) president Richard Haass told US media this morning.

And that's exposed the incredibly flimsy foundations of Putin's war plans.

His troops didn't know.

They believed they were taking part in just another exercise. Even the mid-level commanders crucial for the planning and preparing were kept in the dark.

Others raced into Ukraine with the expectation of being a peacekeeping force. Not the cutting-edge of a full-blown invasion.

They were there to "de-nazify" the Kyiv government. They were there to "disarm" those responsible for the "genocide" of the Russian ethnic group.

Now they know none of it was true.

"This has got to be Putin's nightmare," says Haas. "Essentially, he depends upon his security forces – not just the soldiers but also inside the country. That's an autocrat's nightmare – as protests begin to mount that the security forces either get overwhelmed or show sympathy with the protesters."

The signs of stress are there. But the cracking point remains unknown

"There are clear reasons to be sceptical of claims that Putin will soon be deposed in a palace coup – or that the existing elite could be removed by mass protests," adds University College London (UCL) professor of Russian politics Ben Noble. "[But] Putin has staked his survival on this."

Appeal for unity

Overnight, Putin's personal press secretary urged Russians to "unite".

"Now is not the time to be divided," Dmitry Peskov told state-controlled media. "Now is the time to unite, to unite around our president."

He was responding to a question about high-profile opposition to the war.

That he had to do so was odd.

Despite the Kremlin's best efforts to suppress them, protests against the "special operation" in Ukraine are gaining momentum.

"Yes, indeed, there are heated debates among cultural figures," Peskov said. "Many support the president, sincerely the president. And there are those who completely misunderstand the essence of what is happening."

But it's not a war. Nor an invasion. Nor an attack.

Calling it such is against the law.

Casualty figures are also an official state secret.

Russian Federation Council (upper house, or senate) member Lyudmila Narusova overnight dared contradict Putin's message.

She said she knew of a 100-strong company of troops sent into Ukraine. "Only four were left alive," she said.

She added the defence ministry had refused to confirm the casualty report.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin admitted to 498 killed. It has not since updated that figure.

Instead, it's intensified its campaign of information control.

The BBC has been closed. Twitter is banned. Facebook is blocked. All remaining independent Russian newsrooms are offline.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Photo / AP

Amid it all, Putin remains "on message".

This morning he told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that video footage and photographs of Ukraine's bombed cities were "propaganda fakes".

The home front

"I don't think there's any way he can get his original plan back on track because that ship has sailed," Haass said of Putin's position.

"But because he is who he is because he is an autocrat, he has to be infallible. He can never admit that he made a mistake."

And that means an escalation of fighting in Ukraine.

And a clampdown on dissent at home.

"Putin's tenure in the Kremlin is not necessarily dependent upon public opinion," says Aberystwyth University international politics expert Jennifer Mathers.

"But significant shifts in the mood of ordinary Russians will certainly undermine morale. This could cause some of the powerful figures that surround the president to question the wisdom of continuing down the current path, and perhaps also with the current leader."

They were told there would be no war. Now there is.

About 8000 Russians have reportedly been arrested for protesting the invasion. This includes everyone from schoolchildren to elderly war heroes.

Last night, a group of 12,000 healthcare workers delivered a petition addressed to Putin demanding an end to the fighting.

"We, Russian doctors, nurses and paramedics, strongly oppose the military actions carried out by Russian armed forces on the territory of Ukraine," the petition reads.

"Our relatives, friends, patients and colleagues are located on the attacked territories. There is not a single person among them who would benefit from the ongoing bloodshed."

They join a growing list of prominent Russian individuals and organisations. Chess groups. Theatre companies. Science bodies.

"There are already cases, though, of signatories facing negative consequences, including losing their jobs," says Noble.

"As well as the detentions at protests, this serves as a clear reminder of the bravery of those publicly opposing the war."

A matter of morale

Putin's most significant oversight may be his own troops.

The shock of encountering determined, brutal and bloody opposition has proven severe.

Some Russian soldiers are reportedly abandoning their tanks. Multimillion-dollar radar and anti-aircraft missile vehicles are left parked on the side of the road. Armoured personnel carriers sit empty – their fuel tanks drained.

The exact extent of this collapse in coordination and morale is uncertain. But Ukraine is eager to promote each and every example.

"Clearly, they have moral troubles," says Haass. "The Russians aren't used to fighting this kind of war. The equipment looks old. The troops don't look well-trained. They're not motivated. They don't seem to understand what it is they're doing and why."

It's a similar story at home, among spouses, friends and parents.

Putin signed a state decree in 2015 declaring all military deaths a state secret. So families fear the worst when they lose contact.

Ukraine knows this.

"When Russian soldiers are captured, they are allowed to phone their families – both to assure those back home that they are alive but also to convey to them the reality of this war," says Mathers.

"If there is one thing that can effectively counter the Kremlin's narrative ... it is personal knowledge from trusted sources of information – such as the testimony of combatants delivered to their parents. And these parents will share this knowledge with their extended family, with neighbours, with co-workers, and with friends."

 

Putin ‘Surrounded’ by US and NATO Air and Space Power, says AFA Expert Panel


Maj. Gen. Kimberly Crider, former mobilization assistant to the Chief of Space Operations of the United States Space Force, retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, retired Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, AFA president, Air Force Association, participate in a panel on "Strategic Competition in the European Theater," March 3, 2022. Photo by Mike Tsukamoto/AIr Force Magazine.

March 5, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has united NATO and proven a robust U.S. air and space capability that does not require a no-fly zone, but invasion could have been deterred if the U.S. had stronger air power, said experts at an AFA Warfare Symposium panel on the European theater.

“Our Airmen and Guardians surround the Putin regime,” said AFA president and retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, noting that the Air Force presence extends from the eastern flank of NATO to the far east of Russia in the Indo-Pacific region.

“We have everything we need in the context of watching everything that the Russian military, the Putin regime military is doing today,” said Wright. “He, again, is surrounded, certainly vertically, in a three-dimensional way in the integration of our space and air capabilities.”

Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula highlighted that sanctions did not deter the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

“We’ve lost that conventional deterrent capability,” he said, citing a smaller Air Force than in past decades.

“Sanctions won’t affect current military conditions,” Deptula added. “It’s only U.S. military strength that would have deterred Putin’s aggression.”

Nonetheless, Deptula pointed out that sharing of U.S. Air Force ISR with the Ukrainian Air Force once the conflict began has allowed Ukraine to withstand a 4-to-1 disadvantage in air power with Russia.

“That information sharing gave them the momentum early on,” he said. “And to a significant degree, allows them to deny the Russians air superiority, along with the Russians own demonstrated military and competence.”

In part, Ukraine is using the ISR data to target a miles-long unprotected resupply convoy, firing from an unmanned Turkish TB2 medium-altitude, long-endurence drone. To date, Ukraine has reportedly destroyed some 50 aircraft and 30 helicopters plus a number of drones.

Of Putin’s failure to take control, Deptula remarked: “He’s completely violated the principle tenant of modern warfare being that the first priority has to be securing and maintaining control of the air.”

Retired Maj. Gen. Kimberly A. Crider, who formerly served as Space Force chief technology and innovation officer, said space is already integrated in NATO’s defense and Russia deterrence.

“Vandenberg Space Force Base, [Calif.] has NATO liaison and exchange officers there on the floor of the Combined Space Operations Center working side by side, day to day, every day, coordinating on the needs of those theater operations in support of those combatant operations,” Crider said.

The multinational Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) at Vandenberg also interacts regularly with the emerging NATO Space Center at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

“We know that this is an important capability for sharing information among allied partners, for coordinating support to NATO operations, and we have a very active engagement,” she said.

Moderator and British Air and Space Attaché RAF Air Commodore J.J. Attridge summed up the Russian mindset, which he said has historically been rooted in self-interest.

“Putin’s self-interest has brought the coalition together and NATO [is now] … stronger than before, and it’s unified the world,” he said. “So, thank you, Mr. Putin for that.”

Iran, IAEA hold talks as nuclear negotiations near finish line

Iran’s FM says he will go to Vienna to sign an agreement soon if all of Iran’s red lines are considered in it.

By Maziar Motamedi

Published On 5 Mar 20225 Mar 2022

Tehran, Iran – The head of the global nuclear watchdog and senior Iranian officials have held crucial talks as Iran and world powers are on the verge of restoring their 2015 nuclear deal.

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami in the capital, Tehran, on Saturday.end of list

A major talking point was IAEA safeguards probes, including into several sites where undeclared radioactive materials were found several years ago.

After his meeting with Eslami, the IAEA director told reporters that even as safeguards issues and the JCPOA run parallel to each other, they are closely interrelated.

“It would be difficult to imagine that such an important return to such a comprehensive agreement like JCPOA would be possible if the agency and Iran would not see eye-to-eye on how to resolve these important safeguards issues,” Grossi said.

But both Grossi and Eslami signalled an understanding has been reached on mutual cooperation.

The Iranian nuclear chief said the IAEA will be provided with documentation on “remaining issues” by the third Iranian calendar month in late May without disclosing further details.

‘Will never seek a nuclear bomb’

Iran, which maintains it never had and will never seek a nuclear bomb, believes the issue of the possible military dimensions of its nuclear programme should be laid to rest as it was resolved during the original JCPOA talks.

Iranian officials have previously referred to issues relating to the probe as “political demands” by the West that need to be let go if the Vienna talks are to be successful.

Earlier this week, Grossi had said he will “never” abandon the safeguards probe due to a political reason, saying “the only way these issues will go away is if they are clarified to the full satisfaction of the IAEA”.

The director had a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet prior to landing in Tehran, and will reportedly brief him again after his return to the Austrian capital.

Israel, the strictest opponent of the nuclear accord and its restoration, which maintains Iran is after a nuclear weapon, has repeatedly said it wants the probe to remain open.

Grossi landed in Tehran late on Friday and wrote in a tweet that “this is a critical time, but a positive outcome for everyone is possible”.

Saturday’s developments come as an announcement on the success – or breakdown – of the Vienna talks is expected shortly.

Ready to sign

Iran’s foreign minister on Friday told the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that he will go to Vienna to sign an agreement soon if all of Iran’s red lines are considered.

In addition to dropping the IAEA inquiry, Iran has also demanded the lifting of a wide scope of sanctions, including a “foreign terrorist organisation” designation on its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, guarantees that the US will not renege on the deal again, and a mechanism to verify effective lifting of sanctions.

On Friday, the chief negotiators of the so-called E3 – France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – went back to their capitals to keep their foreign ministers abreast of the latest developments in preparation for a final announcement.

But Iran’s chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, stayed in Vienna to continue holding talks with his counterparts from Russia and China.

The latest of confidential reports by the IAEA – which are regularly leaked to Western media outlets despite Iranian objections – said on Thursday that Iran has produced 33.2 kilogrammes (73 pounds) of 60 percent enriched uranium, up from 17.7kg (39 pounds) in early November when the previous report was released.

Iran had committed to cap its uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent and limit its stockpile to 202.8kg (447 pounds) until 2031 under the JCPOA, but gradually abandoning those limits a year after the US withdrew from it.

Russian troops fought for control of a nuclear power plant in Ukraine – a safety expert explains how warfare and nuclear power are a volatile combination

War, in my opinion, is the worst enemy of nuclear safety.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, points to the training facility hit by Russian artillery at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. AP Photo/Lisa Leutner

Published: March 4, 2022 

Russian forces have taken control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after shelling the Zaporizhzhia facility in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar.

The overnight assault caused a blaze at the facility, prompting fears over the safety of the plant and evoking painful memories in a country still scarred by the world’s worst nuclear accident, at Chernobyl in 1986. The site of that disaster is also under Russian control as of Feb. 24, 2022.

On March 4, Ukrainian authorities reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency that the fire at Zaporizhzhia had been extinguished and that Ukrainian employees were reportedly operating the plant under Russian orders. But safety concerns remain.

The Conversation asked Najmedin Meshkati, a professor and nuclear safety expert at the University of Southern California, to explain the risks of warfare taking place in and around nuclear power plants.
How safe was the Zaporizhzhia power plant before the Russian attack?

The facility at Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear plant in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. It has six pressurized water reactors, which use water to both sustain the fission reaction and cool the reactor. These differ from the reaktor bolshoy moshchnosty kanalny reactors at Chernobyl, which used graphite instead of water to sustain the fission reaction. RBMK reactors are not seen as very safe, and there are only eight remaining in use in the world, all in Russia.

The reactors at Zaporizhzhia are of moderately good design. And the plant has a decent safety record, with a good operating background.

Ukraine authorities tried to keep the war away from the site by asking Russia to observe a 30-kilometer safety buffer. But Russian troops surrounded the facility and then seized it.

REMEMBER THE 'PEACEFUL' USE OF ATOMIC POWER

What are the risks to a nuclear plant in a conflict zone?

Nuclear power plants are built for peacetime operations, not wars.

The worst thing that could happen is if a site is deliberately or accidentally shelled and the containment building – which houses the nuclear reactor – is hit. These containment buildings are not designed or built for deliberate shelling. They are built to withstand a minor internal explosion of, say, a pressurized water pipe. But they are not designed to withstand a huge explosion.

It is not known whether the Russian forces deliberately shelled the Zaporizhzhia plant. It may have been inadvertent, caused by a stray missile. But we do know they wanted to capture the plant.
Tracer rounds and flames can be seen in this video of the fight for control of the nuclear power plant.

If a shell hit the plant’s spent fuel pool – which contains the still-radioactive spent fuel – or if fire spread to the spent fuel pool, it could release radiation. This spent fuel pool isn’t in the containment building, and as such is more vulnerable.

As to the reactors in the containment building, it depends on the weapons being used. The worst-case scenario is that a bunker-buster missile breaches the containment dome – consisting of a thick shell of reinforced concrete on top of the reactor – and explodes. That would badly damage the nuclear reactor and release radiation into the atmosphere. And because of any resulting fire, sending in firefighters would be difficult. It could be another Chernobyl.
What are the concerns going forward?

The biggest worry was not the fire at the facility. That did not affect the containment buildings and has been extinguished.

The safety problems I see now are twofold:

1) Human error

The workers at the facility are now working under incredible stress, reportedly at gunpoint. Stress increases the chance of error and poor performance.

One concern is that the workers will not be allowed to change shifts, meaning longer hours and tiredness. We know that a few days ago at Chernobyl, after the Russians took control of the site, they did not allow employees – who usually work in three shifts – to swap out. Instead, they took some workers hostage and didn’t allow the other workers to attend their shifts.

At Zaporizhzhia we may see the same.

There is a human element in running a nuclear power plant – operators are the first and last layers of defense for the facility and the public. They are the first people to detect any anomaly and to stop any incident. Or if there’s an accident, they will be the first to heroically try to contain it.

2) Power failure

The second problem is that the nuclear plant needs constant electricity, and that is harder to maintain in wartime.

Even if you shut down the reactors, the plant will need off-site power to run the huge cooling system to remove the residual heat in the reactor and bring it to what is called a “cold shutdown.” Water circulation is always needed to make sure the spent fuel doesn’t overheat.

Spent fuel pools also need constant circulation of water to keep them cool. And they need cooling for several years before being put in dry casks. One of the problems in the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan was the emergency generators, which replaced lost off-site power, got inundated with water and failed. In situations like that you get “station blackout” – and that is one of the worst things that could happen. It means no electricity to run the cooling system.

Spent nuclear fuel rods are stored at the bottom of this pool, which requires constant circulation. Guillaume Souvant/AFP via Getty Images

In that circumstance, the spent fuel overheats and its zirconium cladding can cause hydrogen bubbles. If you can’t vent these bubbles they will explode, spreading radiation.

If there is a loss of outside power, operators will have to rely on emergency generators. But emergency generators are huge machines – finicky, unreliable gas guzzlers. And you still need cooling waters for the generators themselves.

My biggest worry is that Ukraine suffers from a sustained power grid failure. The likelihood of this increases during a conflict, because pylons may come down under shelling or gas power plants might get damaged and cease to operate. And it is unlikely that Russian troops themselves will have fuel to keep these emergency generators going – they don’t seem to have enough fuel to run their own personnel carriers.

How else does a war affect the safety of nuclear plants?

One of the overarching concerns is that war degrades safety culture, which is crucial in running a plant. I believe that safety culture is analogous to the human body’s immune system, which protects against pathogens and diseases; and because of the pervasive nature of safety culture and its widespread impact, according to psychologist James Reason, “it can affect all elements in a system for good or ill.”

It is incumbent upon the leadership of the plant to strive for immunizing, protecting, maintaining and nurturing the healthy safety culture of the nuclear plant.

War adversely affects the safety culture in a number of ways. Operators are stressed and fatigued and may be scared to death to speak out if something is going wrong. Then there is the maintenance of a plant, which may be compromised by lack of staff or unavailability of spare parts. Governance, regulation and oversight – all crucial for the safe running of a nuclear industry – are also disrupted, as is local infrastructure, such as the capability of local firefighters. In normal times you might have been able to extinguish the fire at Zaporizhzhia in five minutes. But in war, everything is harder.
So what can be done to better protect Ukraine’s nuclear power plants?

This is an unprecedented and volatile situation. The only solution is a no-fight zone around nuclear plants. War, in my opinion, is the worst enemy of nuclear safety.

Author

Najmedin Meshkati
Professor of Engineering and International Relations, University of Southern California
Disclosure statement
Najmedin Meshkati received research funding from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC in mid-1990s.


Ukraine power plant videos show staff imploring Russian troops to ‘stop firing’

Loudspeaker can be heard warning soldiers outside the Zaporizhzhia plant — the biggest nuclear facility in Europe — that they’re ‘endangering safety of the entire world’

By TOI STAFF and AGENCIES

Today,

Workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant pleading with Russian soldiers to stop firing at the facility, on March 4, 2022. (Screenshot/Twitter)

Videos released Saturday showed staff at an atomic power plant in Ukraine pleading with invading Russian troops to stop firing at the complex, an incident that sparked fury from Ukrainian and Western officials.

The videos appeared to show one of the operational rooms inside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, with a loudspeaker heard warning the Russian soldiers outside.

“Stop firing at the nuclear facility,” a voice said. “Immediately stop firing. You are endangering the safety of the entire world. The operation of a crucial part of Zaporizhzhia’s plant could be damaged. We will not be able to restore it.”

The six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, which can power four million homes, appeared undamaged by the fighting and a fire that broke out in a training facility on Friday.

As a precautionary measure, Ukrainian authorities were distributing iodine tablets to residents living near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor.

The New York Times said a fire that erupted at the site blazed some 1500 feet (500 meters) from the site’s nearest reactor.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he was prepared to travel to Ukraine to ensure the security of the country’s nuclear facilities.

He told the Security Council that a “projectile” hit a building adjacent to a block of six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia plant, sparking a fire that didn’t affect its operation, although he stressed there is nothing normal when military forces are in charge of the site.

Grossi has repeatedly stressed that any military or other action that could threaten the safety or security of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants must be avoided.

“I remain gravely concerned about the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, especially about the country’s nuclear power plants, which must be able to continue operating without any safety or security threats,” he said.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at a press conference about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in Vienna, Austria, on Friday, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Lisa Leutner)

“Any accident caused as a result of the military conflict could have extremely serious consequences for people and the environment, in Ukraine and beyond.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a call with US senators that Russian forces have now seized two Ukrainian nuclear power plants and are advancing toward a third — the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Mykolaiv, one of several cities the Russians were trying to keep encircled.

Ukraine has four nuclear plants with a total of 15 reactors.

What happened in Ukraine nuclear plant? West says Russia attacked, Russia blames Ukraine

The head of the UN nuclear agency reaffirmed that no reactors were hit

By PTI Updated: March 05, 2022 

An image from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Authority shows multiple blasts from Russian shelling | AFP

The United States and its allies have accused Russia of attacking Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant and putting the lives of millions of Europeans at risk of radiation fallout, but Russia claimed a "Ukrainian sabotage group was responsible for setting fire to a nearby training facility.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after photos of a burning building sent shock waves around the world of a possible nuclear disaster on Friday, the head of the UN nuclear agency reaffirmed that no reactors were hit and the Zaporizhzhia plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar was operating normally.

But International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi didn't say who was responsible for firing a projectile that hit a building adjacent to a block of six reactors at the plant sparking a fire.

He said the IAEA was informed a few days ago by Russia that its forces were moving to take control of the plant.

Their advance toward its perimeter was met with opposition and some group of civilians attacking the access to the plant, he said, and early Friday the IAEA got information that a projectile had impacted a building adjacent to the block of reactors six of them.

For Ukraine and Western countries and allies on the Security Council there was no question that Russia was responsible for firing the projectile. The emergency meeting was called by the US, UK, France, Norway, Ireland, and Albania.

Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said Russia's reckless attack marked the first time that any country has attacked a fuelled and functioning nuclear power plant.

In doing so, she said, it had breached international law and the Geneva Convention on the conduct of war which states that dams, dykes, and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield opened her remarks saying: By the grace of God, the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night.

She called Russia's attack incredibly reckless and dangerous, saying it threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe.

Dr Alex Rosen, a pediatrician and vice-president of the German affiliate of the Nobel prize-winning group International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, said the attack clearly shows the danger of fighting war in a nuclear state.

Had the projectile hit a spent fuel pond at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant or one of its six reactors, the prevalent winds Friday morning could have spread radioactive fallout toward the southeast, across the Azov Sea straight into Russia, engulfing the city of Rostov and continuing toward Georgia, Rosen said in an interview.

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected claims that its military forces attacked the plant as simply untrue and part of an unprecedented campaign of lies and disinformation against Russia.

He claimed Russia took control of Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia on February 28 and reached agreement with the plant's management for the Russian military to guard the facility to ensure its security to prevent the Ukrainian nationalist or other terrorist forces from taking advantage of the current situation to organise a nuclear provocation.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, he said, a Russian mobile patrol in the area adjacent to the plant on Thursday night was attacked by a Ukrainian sabotage group with heavy small arms fire from the windows of several floors of a training complex just outside the nuclear plant in order to provoke return fire.

The Russians returned fire and suppressed their fire, he said, and as they were leaving, the Ukrainian sabotage group set fire to the training facility.

For Russia and Belarus which as neighbours lived through the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Nebenzia said, maintaining a normal radiation situation throughout Ukraine is important. And he again blamed Ukrainian nationalists for the incident at the plant and accused the West of attempting to blow it into a global scandal.

Ukraine's UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya accused Russia of committing an act of nuclear terrorism by shelling the nuclear power plant and dismissed as lies Nebenzia's claim that a Ukrainian sabotage group was responsible for setting fire to a training facility at the plant.

He said the Russian ambassador may not be properly informed by his government.

Kyslytsya expressed disappointment that the IAEA's Grossi did not include any mention of the attacking side.

We demand clear and decisive action from the IAEA, he said.

The international community must respond adequately to the actions of the Russian Federation, which could lead to an unprecedented nuclear catastrophe.

The Zaporizhzhia plant is currently under control of the Russian armed forces, Kyslytsya said. While there have been no changes in radiation levels, Kyslytsya said several buildings are damaged and the telephone connection to the plant is disrupted and not available at the moment. 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CHERNOBYL 

 Doha hosts discussion on Afghanistan's humanitarian concerns

March 02 2022 

Doha hosts discussion on Afghanistan's humanitarian concerns

QNA/Doha

Doha hosted a round-table discussion on current and future humanitarian concerns in Afghanistan, organised in co-operation between the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Qatar Red Crescent Society and its Afghan counterpart, with the participation of special advisors and ambassadors of several countries.

The sessions intended to support the humanitarian diplomacy efforts focused on by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, as an integral part of the efforts directed at helping and protecting the population at risk, at a time when the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan threatens the lives of millions of families, which created an urgent desire to discuss and determine the basic needs there.

The discussion were held in the presence of HE Secretary-General of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) Ambassador Ali bin Hassan al-Hammadi, Assistant Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Xavier Castellanos, and Acting President of the Afghan Red Crescent Maulvi Matiul Haq Khalis.


The Afghan Red Crescent expressed its views and assessments of the urgent needs of the Afghan population in light of the current and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in their country, and also reviewed the long-term solutions required to alleviate this crisis. The sessions witnessed great interest and interaction from the participants, who stressed the importance of supporting humanitarian efforts in light of the complex situation in Afghanistan, and the scale of the country's great needs in light of the exacerbation of natural hazards, droughts and floods, severe food shortages, and conflict for successive decades, as well as the crisis of Covid-19, making nearly half of the population in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The meeting stressed the need to take urgent measures to overcome the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and limit its deterioration in light of food insecurity. It also stressed the need to lift restrictions and facilitate financial transfers to humanitarian organisations, and focus on supporting the capacities of the local community and local institutions such as the Afghan Red Crescent.

The three parties (the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Qatar Red Crescent and its Afghan counterpart) discussed, in a meeting held on the sidelines of the round table, ways to develop co-operation between them and support the efforts of the Afghan Red Crescent, which has a strategic partnership with its Qatari counterpart since 2014. The partnership between the two sides result in dozens of humanitarian projects in the areas of emergency relief, shelter, water and sanitation, health, livelihood, and food security, in addition to winter aid, to meet the needs of the population in various Afghan provinces and regions.

In a related context, Qatar Red Crescent Society recently sent 10 relief shipments weighing 150 tonnes of humanitarian aid, which were distributed to the most vulnerable Afghan groups in co-operation with his Afghan counterpart. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives from the Canadian, German, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, Dutch, Spanish, Swiss, British and American embassies in Doha participated in the sessions and round-table discussions. (QNA)

 

Dust storm from Iraq, Syria and Jordan hits western Iran

March 5, 2022 - 

TEHRAN – A dense mass of sand and dust storms entered western Ilam province from the deserts of Iraq, Syria, and Jordan on Friday morning.

The concentration of fine dust was recorded as 50 times above the standard range in some cities of the province.

Due to the intensity of PM concentration, the schools in all educational levels in the southern cities of the province were held online on Saturday, IRIB reported.

Also, the activities of the offices in these areas started with a 2-hour delay. The concentration of dust canceled flights of Ilam Airport.

Ali Mohammad Tahmasebi, head of the national working group for SDSs mitigation, said that internal dust sources estimated at 34.6 million hectares, generate an average amount of 4.22 million tons of dust per year, of which 122.7 kilograms is raised per hectare annually.

Of this area, about 1.4 million hectares are from arid wetlands and about 2.5 to 3 million hectares are in habitats managed by the Department of Environment. Other areas are in agricultural lands, rangelands, and deserts, which is managed by the Forests, Rangelands, and Watershed Management Organization, he explained.

A 10-year national plan has also been drawn up to deal with internal SDS hotspots, in which the task of all related bodies is specified, he stated, IRNA reported.

The total dust density is estimated at about 150 million tons and 540 kg of specific dust per hectare, which is about 3 times more than the dust generated in the country.

$2.1 billion damage to 6 provinces

"We conducted a study for 6 provinces of Khuzestan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Sistan-Baluchestan, South Khorasan, and Hormozgan. Based on which, this phenomenon incurred a loss of about 590 trillion rials (nearly $2.1 billion) in a 3-year period," he stated.

The destruction has occurred in different sectors of agriculture, household, industry, health, etc. Studies show that about 54 percent of the total damage was related to various agricultural sub-sectors alone, he lamented, emphasizing, a proper plan can prevent such considerable harm.

€370 million to combat SDSs

In the past four years, about €370 million has been spent from the National Development Fund to combat SDSs, which had good results, but it seems that the annual credit is declining as conditions improve, he added.

Last [Iranian calendar] year (March 2019-March 2020), €100 million was earmarked in this regard, but the next year's budget bill has proposed €20 million for SDS mitigation, which experts believe will even destroy those measures, he explained.

“However, various measures have been taken to fight the phenomenon, including, planting seedlings on about 26,000 hectares of dust centers in the past three years, as well as managing grazing in 2 million hectares of the protected areas and natural resources.”

Conservation agriculture (sustainable agriculture) was conducted on 160,000 hectares of farming lands, in addition to 100,000 hectares of dredging, he concluded.

FB/MG