Pakistan’s Kirana Hills might be a ticking time bomb with suspected radioactive leakage, Ukraine witnessed similar…, how will it affect India
Kirana Hills: Kirana Hills is a strategic military area located in the Sargodha district of Punjab province in Pakistan, associated with Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Between 1983 and 1990, nuclear tests were conducted here, known as ‘Kirana-I’. The purpose of these tests was to evaluate the design of nuclear weapons. Recently, there have been reports of radioactive leakage following military conflict between India and Pakistan.
Egyptian aircraft
On May 11, a cargo plane from the Egyptian Air Force was seen taking off from an airport in the Mera district of Pakistan. The plane arrived suddenly and departed shortly after. This incident occurred at a time when India carried out airstrikes in several areas of Pakistan. Following this, there are speculations that the plane landed there with Boron, possibly due to concerns about radioactive leaks resulting from these attacks. Among the locations targeted in these attacks is the Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi, which is considered to be the headquarters of Pakistan’s nuclear command.
Boron is used in the process of generating nuclear energy to capture neutrons. This can slow down or stop the reaction rate when needed. Nuclear radiation is hazardous to humans and the environment. Boron carbide is a special material that can effectively block neutrons, which is why it is used for protection against radiation.
Three earthquakes in three days
Pakistan has been shaken by three earthquakes in three days, causing not only tremors felt on the ground but also sparking speculations. This seismic activity primarily occurred in the northern and western regions of the country. This incident comes at a time when tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi are at a peak, especially following the Pahalgam terrorist attack and India’s subsequent military action. On May 12, Monday, a 4.6 magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan, following two consecutive earthquakes on May 10—one in the morning with a magnitude of 4.7 and another later with a magnitude of 4.0.
What did Indian Air Force say?
The Indian Air Force has also dismissed any attack on nuclear sites as baseless and clarified that their strikes were limited to specific military targets and did not target the Kiran Hills. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has explicitly rejected these claims and stated that there has been no radioactive leakage from any of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
Kirana Hills stretch for about 80 kilometers and are situated approximately 170 kilometers away from the Indian border surrounded by a forest.
If there is any radioactive leakage from Kirana Hills, it will be a big and dangerous situation for Pakistan. Not only the nearby residents but also animals, greenery, and agriculture will be under severe threat.
This intensity of this situation can be gauged from the 1986 incident at the ‘Chernobyl Nuclear Plant’ in the Soviet Union (USSR).
Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Disaster
On April 25, 1986, maintenance work was underway at Reactor Number 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in the then USSR. The workers wanted to investigate how to keep the reactor cool in case of a power outage. During a routine test, the system was shut down for just 20 seconds, but just seven seconds after the test began, there was a sudden surge of energy. Efforts were made to shut down the reactor, but there was another loud explosion. This caused the interior of the reactor to rupture, releasing toxic radioactive gas into the atmosphere. This explosion spread approximately 520 dangerous radioactive elements into the environment. Immediately after the accident, two workers died, and 134 employees and emergency personnel suffered from severe radiation sickness, of whom 28 died.
A scientific committee of the United Nations reported that more than 6,000 children and adolescents developed thyroid cancer due to radiation from this incident. It is estimated that the Chernobyl accident caused about $235 billion in damages. Today, Belarus, which had about 23% of its land contaminated by this incident, lost a fifth of its total agricultural land. In 1991, Belarus was the most active in dealing with this disaster, spending 22% of its total budget solely on Chernobyl-related efforts.
The explosion was so powerful that its poisonous particles spread to large parts of the Soviet Union (now Belarus, Ukraine and Russia). According to official reports, 31 people died immediately in the accident and about 600,000 firefighters were exposed to heavy radiation. About 400,000 people were relocated, but millions remained in areas where their health was affected by continuous low levels of radiation exposure.
About 8.4 million people were said to have been exposed to radiation and about 1.55 lakh square kilometers of land in the three countries was contaminated. About 115,000 people were evacuated from areas around the reactor and then about 220,000 people were resettled in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
The largest uncontrolled release of radioactive materials into the environment occurred due to this accident as for almost 10 days, a large amount of radioactive material continued to spread into the air. This radioactive cloud spread across the entire Northern Hemisphere, and large areas of the former Soviet Union, as well as many parts of Europe, accumulated radioactive materials. This caused damage to land, water, and living organisms, especially having a severe impact on the lives and economic conditions of people in large parts of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.
Cases of thyroid cancer increased among those who were children or young adults during the 1986 accident. This increase was particularly observed in certain regions of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. A 30-kilometer zone around the plant is referred to as the ‘exclusion zone,’ where people do not live.
Kirana Hills is a hilly area where uranium mining has taken place. This area has been associated with radioactive activities. The nearby districts include: Khushab (population 1.5 million) – to the west Zhang (population 3 million) – to the east. If there is radioactive leakage from Kirana Hill, it could pose a significant threat to the lives of millions in Pakistan as well as India.
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