last time...:
NUCLEAR FUEL FRAGMENT FOUND LEAKING
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) . Workers at the Chernobyl nuclear plant found a highly radioactive fuel fragment atop the sarcophagus that covers a reactor ruined in the world's worst nuclear accident, officials said Thursday.
The 8-inch fragment, found last week, emits radiation of some 200 Roentgen an hour at close range, which is thousands of times higher than normal background radiation.
The fuel piece could have been blown onto the roof through a ventilation shaft located between the ruined reactor No. 4 and Chernobyl's only working reactor, No. 3, said Svetlana Linkevych, a spokeswoman for sarcophagus workers.
Experts are now determining how the fuel got onto the sarcophagus roof and how to remove it safely, she said.
The sarcophagus was hastily constructed to cover the reactor that exploded and caught fire in April, 26, 1986, spewing a radioactive cloud over parts of Europe.
With the help of foreign aid, Ukraine is trying to make the leaky structure environmentally safe. It is believed to contain tons of radioactive fuel and dust.
Some 180 tons of nuclear fuel were located in the reactor at the moment of its explosion, and scientists have accounted for only 140 tons of ....
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