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You're probably hearing about this because Chernobyl aired. It wouldn't be newsworthy otherwise.

I've read about the cracks around a year ago.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43988385

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/06/cracks-n...

There is some series on nuclear disasters going on all the time. PBS just did a big one on Fukishima last year and Command and Control has been put out again recently. Maybe it's a slight surge, but people have always been interested in these subjects. If you haven't seen either I would highly recommend. Command and Control is particularly frightening as many don't know about it.

Chernobyl is particularly relevant though due to the similarity of the potential failure modes (control rod thermal failure preventing full insertion leading to meltdown).