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jiggawatts 12 hours ago

a) Russia plans to conquer Ukraine and use its resources. Nuclear power plants are very expensive and critical to industry. Russia wants to capture these for their own use, not blow them up and irradiate the countryside that they wish to be a part of their own country!

b) Active reactors contain very "hot" decay products that are very bad for your health if atomised by an explosion and spread around. Chernobyl is the prototypical example of this. Enriched Uranium is less radioactive than natural Uranium, that's the point! Natural Uranium would "trigger itself" prematurely due to its constant background decay radiation.

mrs6969 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

So if russia do not want it as part of their country, and if it was not that level of radioactive, that would justify such attack ?

So, attacking a nuclear facility is valid if they are not that radioactive (since you are attacking you are not planning to use it anyway)

Did I get your answer correctly ?

tgv 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My knowledge in these matters is limited, but natural uranium can't trigger itself, can it? At least, it can't produce the classical chain reaction, as there's not enough U235 to sustain it, I think.

aaronmdjones 4 hours ago | parent [-]

> but natural uranium can't trigger itself, can it?

Right now? Not that we know of.

Historically? Yes.

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/meet-oklo-the-earths-tw...

jwilk 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Enriched Uranium is less radioactive than natural Uranium

[citation needed]