Radiation spikes in Chernobyl

Russians came from Belarus and with their tanks disrupt the radioactive soil and create dust [1]. The internal systems and the reactors themselves are in nominal state without changes.<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;ukraine-says-chernobyl-radiation-levels-increasing-after-russia-invasion-2022-2" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;ukraine-says-chernobyl-radia...</a>

Tangentially, if you appreciate being able to read raw, unfiltered OSINT like OP (@OAlexanderDK) dug up, you&#x27;d be interested to know Twitter mistakenly suspended his account twice in the past three days [0] -- one among a large number of legitimate OSINT people covering Ukraine. The existence of this kind of HN thread is fragile.<p>You can also read Twitter Site Integrity&#x27;s apology and response [1], or independent reporting about this [2].<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;OAlexanderDK&#x2F;status&#x2F;1496513006657839108" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;OAlexanderDK&#x2F;status&#x2F;1496513006657839108</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;yoyoel&#x2F;status&#x2F;1496544199478583297" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;yoyoel&#x2F;status&#x2F;1496544199478583297</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;5b23938b-49b8-426f-97af-640ba40c9922" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;content&#x2F;5b23938b-49b8-426f-97af-640ba40c9...</a> (<i>&quot;Twitter admits it mistakenly removed Ukraine open-source intelligence accounts&quot;</i>)

This is ridiculous panic. They haven&#x27;t cracked open the NSC or anything like that. It&#x27;s just dust. Long lived radionuclides kicked into the air that emit alpha and beta radiation - practically harmless unless you&#x27;re playing around in it like a sandpit. Please don&#x27;t let your attention be diverted from the matter at hand.

There&#x27;s a followup tweet with a possible explanation: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;WillyWaugh&#x2F;status&#x2F;1497157722663391233" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;WillyWaugh&#x2F;status&#x2F;1497157722663391233</a><p>Though I am not 100% sure of this since the USSR had removed the topsoil back then but I suppose more of it could have spewed back in to the soil over time.

- <i>&quot;Data from the automated radiation monitoring system of the exclusion zone, which is available online,&quot;</i><p>Where is this official source?

I really thought that Russia would avoid the exclusion zone. It was just so obvious that everyone benefits from keeping fighting out of that area.

What strategic purpose would taking Chernobyl have other than maybe securing the site and preventing someone from blowing a hole in the sarcophagus?

So are soldiers from both sides, either on foot or in vehicles in full radiation suits??? If not, aren&#x27;t they at severe risk of radiation poisoning (in addition to rapid on set lead poisoning)?<p>Not to mention if they continue past chernobyl into other regions, aren&#x27;t they just gonna carry all that radiation with them?

I find this radiation spike very suspicious. What is the mechanism? Did they open the sarcophag, did they stop taking care of spent fuel from other reactors? What happened?<p>I don’t buy the story that they raised radiation simply by disturbing dust with their vehicles. There have been 39 years since the nuclear accident and I assume enough winds and rain and snow to raise all the dust that could have been raised.

Imagine this for a movie plot<p>Russia stages the invasion as a cover to recover something from deep under Chernobyl<p>What do you think that thing might be....

Does someone have any insight on why Russia would expend resources taking this site? AFAIK it doesn&#x27;t have anything useful or produce any power, except maybe the possibility that mishandling it could invoke the terror of regional disaster. (Unless that&#x27;s the point?)

Very likely a dumb question, but would the Russians be carrying depleted uranium ammunition? Could that be what&#x27;s causing the detectors to see spikes?

So we will have another massive die-off of endangered saiga antelopes this spring.

Could they be deploying nukes? Chernobyl would be the perfect cover.

Be careful out there S.T.A.L.K.E.R.