UKRAINE: Impending Nuclear Disaster at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant?

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Russia overtook Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant early in the war when they invaded Ukraine. Since then, world leaders have condemned the Russian military for using the plant as a military base. Nerves are rising as the world wonders, are we heading towards a nuclear disaster worse than Chernobyl?

ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR POWER STATION

The nuclear plant was built in the Soviet era, near the town of Enerhodar. It has six nuclear reactors. The first five were brought online between 1985 and 1989, and the last one was connected in 1995. The power station handles generating over half of Ukraine's energy deriving from nuclear power, and about a fifth of the whole electricity in the country.

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (credit: Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, the plant fell to the Russians on 4th March 2022, after the battle of Enerhodar. Since then, Ukrainian staff continues to run the plant. It has been reported that they are not allowed to leave the plant or take breaks from shifts. This puts the plant in danger as the workers are tired and can make mistakes.

WHAT HAPPENED IN MARCH 2022

On 25 February 2022, Energoatom shut down reactors 5 and 6 for safety reasons. Reactors 1 to 4 were left to run.

On 3rd March, at 11.28pm Ukrainian time, 10 Russian armoured vehicles and 2 tanks made their way to the power plant. The battle started at 12.48am, when Ukraine forces fired an anti-tank missile, on 4th March. The Russians responded by using various weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades. After two hours of intense combat, a fire started in the training facility just outside the main complex. This was taken out just after 6:00am. Other places in the plant sustained damage. The fire did not damage essential equipment or affect the reactor safety. The plant lost 1.3GW of capacity that day.

Shelling around the plant causes concern in the world (Credit: Planet Labs)

On 12 March, news media outlets responded that Russians declared the plant to be run by Rosatom, which is the Russian state nuclear power company. Since then, the Russian invaders have built an army base on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Station.

A video started to circulate on Thursday, 18th August, showing military vehicles parking inside a turbine hall that houses a nuclear reactor. It is not clear whether the vehicles are connected to the plant equipment or the Russian military. Fears are that the trucks carry ammunition or some other dangerous military equipment that could pose a threat to the integrity of the plant.

Russian military trucks present at the Zaporizhzhia plant

The Russian army has also used this position to their advantage to shell the surrounding area. They know that the Ukrainian army does not dare to fire back due to safety. There are about five hundred soldiers and fifty pieces of heavy army equipment, including tanks, stationed at the plant.

SAFTEY CONCERNS

On 25th of August, shelling damaged the last power line connected to the power plant. This meant that the complex was disconnected from the Ukrainian electricity grid and was relying on the back-up diesel generators. This was the first time in 40 years that such an event happened. If the plant does not get power, then the cooling system for the nuclear reactors could fail, thereby causing a nuclear reactor meltdown.

Pictures captured by Maxar Studios on 19.8.22 shows the plant in good condition

There have been many instances in the past six months that have caused major concerns in the international community. The United States President, Joe Biden, has called onto Putin to agree to create a demilitarised zone around the plant complex.

Another concerned body worried about the power plant's safety is the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. They are pushing for official inspectors to be able to travel to the plant so that the safety and integrity of the systems can be inspected and analysed. They have made it clear that their officials can arrive very quickly, even by the end of August.

RADIATION ALL OVER EUROPE AND SURROUNDINGS

Most people fear that the plant will blow up due to the shelling in the area. However, what could  most likely happen is a disaster like Fukushima nuclear disaster, in 2011.

The Japanese nuclear power plant lost power due to an immensely powerful earthquake, and later tsunami wave. The tsunami flooded the lower parts of the reactors 1 to 4. This led to the emergency electricity system to shut down and it caused three nuclear meltdowns, three hydrogen explosions and radioactive contamination to be released in Units 1, 2, 3 between 12 and 15 March, 2011.

It was the second most severe nuclear disaster, after Chernobyl. Around 154,000 people were evacuated. In Chernobyl, about 335,000 people were evacuated. Some of the residents around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant remember that time very well, and now they fear that they will face it a second time.

If such an accident would happen, then the radioactive contamination could spread all over Europe, as far as the United Kingdom. Of course, the direction and severity that the radioactive cloud would spread is dependant on the wind direction, power, and many other factors. One thing to keep in mind is that this would also have very devastating effects on Russia. If the winds are favourable on that day, the radioactive cloud could very well spread in Russia's easterly direction.

CONCLUSION

Russia must allow international body, IAEA, to have inspectors come to the plant and inspect the safety and integrity of the complex. While a nuclear power plant has many safety systems, including different grid connections and back-up diesel generators. Zaporizhzhia also has a spray pond for cooling, this means that the hot water from inside the plant is sprayed outside in the air to lower its temperature. But none of these safety devices were created to withstand an active war zone.

There are also fears that Russia is looking to create a false flag operation to finally disconnect the nuclear power plant from the Ukrainian electricity grid and connect it to the Russian power grid. This would show the Russians back at home that Kremlin has some concrete gains to show for the senseless fighting that has been occurring for the past six months.

Russia needs to stop fighting at the plant and remove all military personnel and equipment from it. This complex was not designed to be a military base. Any accidents at the plant would have catastrophic events for both Russia and Europe, and most of all, for Ukraine. I hope that the international community, and world leaders, put more pressure on Putin to act now. Even China has spoken out against what the Russians are doing at Zaporizhzhia. And hopefully, when China speaks, Russia will listen.

References: 

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