A potentially explosive future for moldova

I wonder, have you ever heard of Cobasna? This place is a small commune in Rîbnița District in northern Transnistria, which is a very small part of the small eastern European country of Moldova. Moldova itself sits between Romania and Ukraine near to the Black Sea coast, but the breakaway region of Transnistria lies along the Dniester River. This is where Cobasna is to be found, a mere 2 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. From most points of view, it is a very insignificant place and there is not much reason why anyone outside the immediate area would have heard of it. And yet, it is now in the news because it has the capacity to potentially be the site of an epic human and ecological disaster.