Hamlet:
Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old
men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their
eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a
plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all which, sir,
though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not
honesty to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, shall grow
old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward.
Polonius:
[Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.
Dear Readers:
Today I have this piece by reporter Alexei Morozov, who helps to explain a very curious mystery: Why are the Ukrainians so persistently, and so stubbornly, bombing the Zaporozhie Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)? Are they simply nuts? Or do they have some kind of rational purpose?
I mean they are nuts to do this, that much is clear. Yet there is method in’t, in the words of a very perceptive Polonius. The Ukrainians cannot win this war by conventional means, hence they are engaging in Gonzo Warfare! Allow me to explain. Or rather, Morozov:
On Sunday, 20 November, the Ukrainians resumed their shelling of the Zaporozhie Nuclear Power Plant. The fire is being directed, very precisely, at the nuclear waste storage site. And this is no accident.
When the first shellings started, back in April, experts tried to figure out if it was physically possible to destroy the actual reactor, using shells and rockets. To be sure, nuclear power stations are built to withstand just about anything. But most of the layers are protection are around the actual processes taking place inside the reactor. It never occurred to anybody that somebody would actually keep shelling an NPP. There are actually no precedents for this. Fortunately, the experts believe that damage to the actual reactor is highly unlikely. The shielding was built to withstand even a small airplane crashing into it, according to expert scientist Alexander Prosvirnov.
But if they cannot destroy the reactor, then what are the Ukrainians actually after? Prosvirnov believes that he knows the answer:
“They are going after the nuclear waste. The Zaporozhie NPP was built for, and used to operate on, Russian fuel. In the past, the Russians would remove their waste products and utilize them in other processes. But several years ago, the Ukrainians broke ties with Russia and converted to American fuel, supplied by Westinghouse. Which, by the way, is not really suitable for this type of reactor, but it still functions, more or less. Now. the bad part is that the Americans do not remove their waste. And so it just lies there on the territory of the station; and is not guarded very well.
“They purchased a license from a certain firm, for dry waste storage containers, and placed them on the territory of the NPP. These sites are vulnerable, they could emit contamination if shelled. It’s a sort of poor man’s Dirty Bomb.”
So, what would happen, hypothetically, should a rocket blow up the nuclear waste products? There might be an explosion. It would not be the same as an atomic explosion [i.e., no mushroom cloud], but it could still emit contaminated products, radioactive ash and dust, which would rise up into the atmosphere. After which, everything that happens next depends on the direction of the wind. Nuclear waste contains isotopes, including short-lived ones, which would dissipate and become harmless fairly quickly; but also the kind that could contaminate the soil and water, for a long time to come. Once again, everything depends on the wind, on the precipitation levels, and thousands of other factors that cannot be predicted.
In conclusion: The Ukrainians are trying, with all their might, to create and set off a Dirty Bomb, using stuff that is just lying around.
Who Is To Blame?
yalensis: That’s it for the article. One must repeat the question: Why would the Ukrainians want to set off a dirty bomb? Well, I reckon, for the same reason they toyed with the idea of flooding the Left Bank of the Kherson Oblast:
In order to shoo the Russians away! It’s so obvious! They are hoping that General Surovikin will lose his nerve and pull his guys out of Zaporozhie, rather than risk them getting irradiated by a dirty bomb.
Now mind you, the situation is somewhat different from Kherson. Kherson City was on the Right Bank of the Dniepr, and there were lots of other issues involved apart from possible flooding; namely, the difficulty of supplying so many troops from the other side of the river with just pontoon bridges. The Zaporozhie NPP, on the other hand, is already on the Left Bank, so supplying the garrison there is not an issue. The only issue is the risk of the dirty bomb going off. I am not sure what Russians can do to mitigate this risk. Maybe the soldiers should wear bunny suits all the time?
Meanwhile, the most evil character in this entire story is Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is his job, and I am sure he receives a very good salary, to protect the world against precisely this kind of threat. And yet it is clear as day that Grossi is totally in cahoots with NATO and the Ukrainians. (And dubious, at best, to imagine that the Ukrainians just undertook this mad scheme on their own, without NATO input and approval.)
Hence, if the Ukrainians do succeed in setting off that dirty bomb, then Grossi must answer for the entire catastrophe. Like Polonius, maybe he will just try to hide behind a curtain?
Awful Avalanche 
I see Ukraine has attacked the Kinburn Split that you were discussing recently.
I can’t see the point myself. The point about artillery is that it either needs to be dug in deep or it needs to be mobile and scarper every times it fires off a few volleys.
The split gives them just sand, while moving can only be done in 1 dimension up and down the split.
And any advance down the Split is easy to cut off.
Kiev continues its PR battle – its a lot easier than fighting Russians.
LikeLike
These ukronazi’s and their empire if lies counterparts, they leave a trail of wreckage, destroy everything, after raping and pillaging. Its what they do, it is their purpose. No other explanation figures. It is intentional. Looks like another thing to me. Here in rural WV the meth-heads have this explicitly unique to them behavior pattern, when they get to the full addiction state they turn into feral human’s. You see them, they have this rage, it manifests itself into wrecking everything around them, its like utter abandonment of civilized human behavior. They go feral, the crime gangs in the soros agent controlled shit-holes are got to this stage. You have to see it to appreciate it, the incredible energy they put into it. The results look like rage. Accomplished with total rage. They will for example break into somebody’s office trailer at a coal mine or logging works, nothing from the walls to ceilings, furniture desks is left untouched, everything smashed, wrecked, wiring and plumbing pulled out of wall, everything smashed to bits, it is incredible to see, breath taking. I notice similarities to the ukronazi’s as they have turned their AO’s in the Donbas Arc into total wastelands after stripping out everything from light fixtures to windows, like locusts have passed thru. 8 years of nazi rage and devastation. They will try to poison the Crimea if they can not have it, if it is retaken, they will turn it into a wasteland of poverty and destitution because their overlords have deemed nobody can anything nice or prosperous. If they deem you are permitted to exist, your gonna do it squatting in the dirt with a spear, protecting your woman, your meat, every day. It is how you rule people in totality. I can see it clear as day. They are attempting this very thing in my homeland right now, its in stages. Right now its “low” intensity conflict, late first stage “protracted struggle”, its right in the proxy insurgency/client regime training handbooks, same thing for gangstalker training. Its got a real specific name, which is the basis for all levels of protracted struggle. Aside from politicization of everything, first order is what is called “punishment”. From gangstalker coverage of people to Terror & Reprisal/liquidation cells and operations. (the ukronazi army is a terror and reprisal army, its what they do, its not a characteristic it is a feature). Punishment, its underlying strat-tac, is the basis from which all “direct actions” are determined, what levels they are set at, what scale of violence and threat of violence is determined. This is literal actual operational methods processes and procedures, they even have a quality and control feature built into it, debrief and strategy. Just like what is employed in manufacturing, modified for surveillance, regime change and genocide operations. This is all readily available information, it just you got to hunt for it a bit, align the pieces, and know some historical accountings of previous events, it falls into place, thru pattern in detail you get pattern of details, then see present events, it creates a rational logical picture.
Up to me, there would be 10 foot layer of dirt over that waste sight post haste.
Totally defeats artillery that way. After all why do soldiers dig holes and use dirt breastworks to give them solid cover, right? Ain’t no athiests in foxholes either.
Have a ready stock pile of dirt up next to the sight, and a couple CAT D-11’s ready to push new dirt over craters. Some plate armor for shrapnel protection on the dozers. Next to killing the enemy, is successful counter measures to their methods.
LikeLike
The shelling of the waste storage area has been reported for quite some time. But I believe that the Russian side has solved the problem, and the answer is in your report: “In the past, the Russians would remove their waste products and utilize them in other processes…” The waste is probably being transported by truck to other, more secure, locations.
LikeLike
To be honest, I wasn’t even aware of this waste storage issue, until I read this article. I was wondering why the Russian technicians couldn’t also remove the Westinghouse waste. Do you think they are doing this? I hope so.
LikeLike
The character Grossi may feel important in his cozy environs provided by his handlers. There is a realm beyond lights and shadows where the SVR operates. It is not beyond reproach where things reach out and touch some such gross entity.
LikeLike
To be fair, ukrainia is a pawn in the game, the lives are meaningless to DC/London, it’s people are to be sacrificed to the “great game” as were the people of Libya and Syria. And to be fair, the people who elected Biden were voting for war, were voting to continue the policy of destruction which was the Bush/Obama administration’s [singular intended] most significant “accomplishment”. For political hacks out there, please note, the Bush/Obama/Hillary/Biden [D/R] foreign/domestic policy is not divisible in any meaningful manner, all of it is anti American neocolonialist tripe.
The reason DC/London are helping to pollute Ukraine with nuclear waste is already publicly admitted to, the strategy was; 1] to use ukrainia as a forward nuclear missile base, [now that Finland has volunteered to be the sacrificial lamb..who knows] plus…a Naval base to hem in Russia’s access to the Black Sea…2] and if that fails, create an intractable quagmire that will weaken Russia henceforth. “Nuking Russia” with “plausible deniability” falls into the 2] category. Disgusting but, what the “great minds” of clubby DC/London consider elevated statecraft.
The sooner this is over, the better. DC/London are playing for time…and preying…oops..praying for a disaster to play their way.
LikeLike
SB: I know when I voted (reluctantly) for Biden, I certainly wasn’t voting for war. One of Biden’s many broken campaign promises was that he would *end* these “forever wars”. But no.
So I won’t make that mistake again, though I’d never vote for wanna-be Fuehrer Donald. I think we’ve truly reached the point where Steppenwolf’s ‘prophecy’ — “Now their vote is a meaningless joke” — has been entirely fulfilled.
LikeLike
Polonius, Polonium, what’s in a name?
LikeLike
Good one! I toyed with the idea of punning on Polonius’ name, in my blogpost (with the atomic reference), but decided against it.
Everybody probably already knows, that “Polonius” means “Polack”, and that polonium was named after Marie Curie, because she was Polish.
LikeLike
Can we thus credit Shakespeare, in the character of Polonius, with the first Polack joke in the English language?
LikeLike
I think we can!
LikeLike
Shooting at the nuclear waste makes no sense at all from the Ukrainian point of view – above all because the wind direction is unpredictable and changeable, and the radioactive waste could just as easily contaminate the Ukrainian side as the Russian side – and for that matter from the Ukrainian point of view BOTH sides are Ukrainian.
Nor is it in the interests of the EU, whose countries will also be contaminated by the dirty bomb, as indeed by Chernobyl.
The reason has got to be because the Ukies were ordered by the Americans to try to destroy the spent reacor pool. The Americans are far away, they don’t care one iota about the people affected, they only want to create a nasty problem on Russia’s doorstep, nothing else interests them.
Easy to understand, no mystery. US Americans. The most perverted and psychopathic nation state in the history of the universe.
LikeLike
Worse than the Klingons?
LikeLike