As Russia's invasion enters its ninth day, a fire broke out at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe following Russian shelling which was later extinguished by Ukraine's emergency services. This has escalated fear of a nuclear threat in the West, which, as Ukrainian experts say, could have been a second Chernobyl or worse than the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Russia's advancements have prompted strong reactions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, which called Russia's act "deplorable".
The reactor that was hit, was under renovation and therefore non-operational, Ukraine's Plant spokesperson Andry Tuz informed.
Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that the Russian army fired from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP. He added, "If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chernobyl! Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!"
The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called Russia's advances "nuclear terror".
Zaporizhzhia, the nuclear power plant under attack
This close escape from a nuclear disaster has caused global concerns and reminded Ukrainians of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 which caused radioactive waste to be released into the environment leading to as many as 93,000 extra cancer deaths globally.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) in Energodar, 500 km south of Kyiv, has six reactors, one of which caught fire due to the Russian attack. The Zaporizhzhia NPP generates 25 per cent of Ukraine's electricity.
The power units are not designed to be hit by bombs or projectiles. As informed by Dmytro Humenyuk, State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety, to Hromadske, Ukraine's media house, if the reactor is seriously damaged and nuclear fuel exposed, the resulting catastrophe would be as bad as Chernobyl and if more than one reactor is hit, the result would be even more horrific.
A recent statement by Greenpeace, an international non-profit, warned that the military invasion of Ukraine poses an unprecedented nuclear threat, with the country’s 15 commercial nuclear reactors, at risk of catastrophic damage that could render vast areas of the European continent, including Russia, uninhabitable for decades.
The scale of the nuclear threat at Zaporizhzhia can be discerned by turning back to history. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst nuclear accident, was such that it contaminated the local vegetation and water supply in the local region for decades. Radioactive particles from an estimated five tonnes of the reactor’s fuel were carried into the air during the 1986 explosion and fire, spreading contamination around Europe.
The Chernobyl plant hasn’t produced electricity in more than two decades, and much of the equipment has been removed. Mariana Budjeryn, a Ukrainian expert on nuclear energy at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, pointed out that “There are contingencies but I doubt that these power plants have prepared for a full-scale invasion. In the middle of a large-scale conflict, there’s a myriad of things that could happen, for which normal, even very robust, safety procedures at a nuclear power plant would be insufficient, Budjeryn said speaking to The Guardian.
In all of history, only Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters have been designated a "level 7" nuclear accident, a classification used by the IAEA to refer to major events with widespread health and environmental effects. Although, a disaster was averted, the continued Russian bombardment of nuclear sites makes the prospect of catastrophe likely.
IAEA urged Russia to let Ukraine control its nuclear facilities
IAIEA, the UN nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors backed a resolution on Thursday that "deplores" Russia's invasion of Ukraine and urges it to let Ukraine control all its nuclear facilities.
Russia, which, with China, voted against the resolution, said it was based on "politically motivated lies and mistakes". The resolution was passed at an emergency meeting of the 35-nation Board called by Canada and Poland on Ukraine's behalf. Director General, IAEA, Rafael Grossi, asked Moscow to "immediately cease all actions against, and at, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and any other nuclear facility in Ukraine, in order for the competent Ukrainian authorities to preserve or promptly regain full control".
Three days before the attack, Grossi had said that there were on-going and active conversations happening with both sides in Ukraine about how the IAEA could assist. He said: "Ukraine is a member state of the IAEA, and they are entitled to, and expect to get assistance when there is a problem, in this case related to the safety of their facilities. Obviously in the present circumstances, delivering assistance is not a straightforward or easy process.
Ukraine had in late February called on the IAEA to intervene to prevent occupying forces in the 30 kilometre zone around nuclear power plants.
Furthermore, the White House, following the attack on the NPP, said in a series of tweets that Biden "joined President Zelenskyy in urging Russia to cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site."
Further, the US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tweeted that she had spoken with her Ukrainian counterpart and said that the site's reactors are protected by "robust containment structures" and "are being safely shut down."
UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said in a statement that the, “reckless actions of Putin could now directly threaten the safety of all of Europe,” Johnson’s office said in a statement. “He said the UK would do everything it could to ensure the situation did not deteriorate further.”