War in Ukraine: Nuclear plant takeover and attacks raise fears of disaster

April 29, 2022

Robert

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Ukraine’s 63-day war has triggered several warning signs, and one of them is a “blinking red light”. This is how the Argentine Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described the situation at the Zaporijia nuclear power plant – the largest in Europe, which has been occupied by Russia since March 4th.

The UN-linked agency carried out a mission this week to assess the condition of the plants amid Russian attacks. Grossi was in Chernobyl and Kiev, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

More than half of Ukraine’s electricity comes from its 15 operating nuclear reactors, which are distributed across four plants: Rivne (1)Khmelnitsky (two)southern Ukraine (3) and Zaporijia (4). In addition, the country maintains the structure of the Chernobyl plant (5)but its units were decommissioned after the 1986 nuclear disaster.

The most worrying situation is that of Zaporíjia. In March, the takeover by Russian troops was preceded by a projectile fall that hit a training center and set fire to the only 300 meters of one of the plant’s units. The structure considered essential for the operation of the reactors was not reached, but the UN official warned that the event put the pillars of nuclear safety at risk.

Among the other active plants, the agency said on Thursday that it was investigating the possible overflight of a missile over the plant in southern Ukraine – which, if confirmed, “would be extremely serious”. “If such a missile had deviated, it could have severely impacted the physical integrity of the plant, potentially leading to a nuclear accident,” it said.

Another point of attention is the deactivated power plant in Chernobyl. The structure was taken on the day of the invasion of the country, 24 February, and Russian troops withdrew on 31 March. During that time, employees were kept on site to carry out daily operations and were unable to return to their homes.

Understand: At the time of the explosion that caused one of the biggest nuclear disasters in history, on April 26, 1986, Chernobyl had four units in operation and two under construction — which were never completed. The unit where the accident took place is protected in a confinement zone, while the others were closed. There are still teams working on site to monitor radiation and act on damage containment.

31 people died at the time as a result of the explosion and radiation;
about 400 thousand people were evacuated from the region;
5 million of people were hit by the cloud released by the explosion.

Although the plants are not deliberate targets of attack —given the risk of a new disaster with uncontrolled implications for troops and civilians on both sides—, military action on Ukrainian territory represents a danger due to the chance of hitting one of them by mistake, either by proximity of operations or failures in missile range.

An interactive map prepared by Greenpeace shows the location of attacks reported since February 24 and their proximity to the plants.

The takeover of the plants by the military without training or protection and the lack of communication with the control units are also a concern of the authorities.

Do not get lost

What are Russia’s possible military interests in the occupation of nuclear power plants? With the help of Danielle Ayres, professor at UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) and vice president of Abed (Brazilian Association of Defense Studies), we list three:

Power cut: The capture of Zaporijia, in the eastern region, is related to Russia’s objective to conquer the Donbass and create a land corridor to the south. With control of the region’s main energy source, Russia could make resistance difficult.
Ticket: The occupation of Chernobyl was of tactical importance at the beginning of the war, as a point to facilitate the passage of troops coming from Belarus towards Kiev. The departure of the Russian military took place in the context of a redistribution of forces towards the east.
Control of operations: In the Zaporyjia case, Russia can prepare to take over the operations if it succeeds in taking the east. This objective could also pose a threat to other plants in Russian hotspots, such as the one in southern Ukraine, which is close to Odessa.