Zaporizhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, has been under fire, and the situation is tense. HS sought answers to the most central questions about the battle in the region.
What is happening at the power plant?
Russia took over the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in March, and the situation at the power plant has become extremely tense during the summer. Rocket fire has been fired at the power plant, which has damaged parts of the power plant. Voimala’s 11,000 Ukrainian employees do their work under very high pressure, and the possibility of error increases.
The International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA warns of the danger of a nuclear disaster and wants to inspect the power plant to make sure of its safety arrangements.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday night that he had agreed to the arrival of the inspectors.
Why has the nuclear power plant become the target of battles?
Summer during, according to Ukraine, Russia has established a base for approximately 500 soldiers in the area of the nuclear power plant and carries out attacks on nearby areas from the protection of the plant. The video obtained by the news channel CNN shows how there are trucks of the Russian armed forces in the turbine hall of the power plant.
Rocket firing started at the power plant on August 5, and since then the firing has continued.
According to Ukraine, there is a risk that Russia will organize an accident or provocation at the power plant, for example a terrorist attack, which it will stage as Ukraine’s fault.
Ukraine blames Russia for the shooting, Russia blames Ukraine.
The overall picture is blurry, and it is difficult to verify information. Ukraine also has an interest in fighting for the nuclear power plant so that it does not lose it to Russia once and for all. The power plant is south of the Dnieper River in the territory occupied by Russia near the Crimean peninsula.
Has Russia looted the power plant or is it planning to do so?
Yes. Russia immediately announced in March that the power plant has been transferred to Rosatom’s control. However, the Ukrainian workers have continued their work, and the power plant is still connected to the Ukrainian electricity grid.
The frontline in the south hasn’t really been alive in recent weeks. It is bad news for Ukraine, at least in terms of the power plant. The longer the power plant remains under Russian control, the further it will inevitably fly from Ukraine.
Is Russia going to connect the power plant to its own electricity grid?
Yes. According to Ukraine’s estimate, this would take two to three months. Russia intends to annex the territories it has conquered in southern Ukraine. The power plant would benefit the energy supply of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
Is the power plant dangerously damaged?
Russian The inspectors of the IAEA, which is independent of the parties to the war that started, have not been able to visit the power plant for more than half a year. The IAEA receives information about the power plant even without visiting the site, but it is difficult to get an overall picture of the damage.
According to information received by the IAEA from Ukraine the rockets have damaged the walls, roofs and windows of the spent fuel storage buildings and possibly radiation sensors, but not the storage tanks themselves. However, the radiation levels are normal and based on the information provided by Ukraine, the IAEA does not suspect an immediate danger right now.
The attacks in the area of the power plant have jeopardized all seven instructions that the IAEA issued after the Russian attack.
Can intentional or unintentional bombings cause a nuclear disaster?
Major the risk to the power plant is probably not the fighting, not even the bombings that hit the power plant directly. After the WTC attacks in New York in 2001, nuclear power plants around the world were inspected for similar risks. The reactors are very strongly protected.
According to experts, the risk that even a deliberate bombing could cause an explosion in the reactor is small.
What are the biggest risks of an accident?
The biggest the risk is considered that the power plant would lose its power source. If the power supply were to be interrupted, the reactor cores could start to melt.
The power plant needs electricity to operate, which it now receives from the Ukrainian electricity grid. The power plant can operate independently for a while, but not for very long. According to Ukraine, three of the four transmission lines have already been damaged in the fighting.
If the cores were to melt, they could release radioactive radiation into the atmosphere to be spread by winds.
The risk of a complete disaster is also reduced by the fact that only two of the six reactors are active.
Can Zaporizhia become the next Chernobyl?
European the fighting around the largest nuclear power plant is an extremely dangerous thing. The president of Ukraine has warned about the risk of a serious accident Volodymyr Zelenskyi and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterreswho called any damage to the power plant “suicide.”
“We don’t want another Chernobyl,” said the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.
The reactor fire and explosion that took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 1986 is the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, killing dozens directly and later hundreds, perhaps thousands, of radiation sickness.
According to experts, Chernobyl is probably too harsh a comparison, because Zaporizhia is a more modern and better protected power plant.
Russian opposition newspaper Radiochemistry expert Boris Žuikov interviewed by Meduza using the second worst accident in history in Fukushima as a possible benchmark.
A fire broke out at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan after an earthquake in March 2011. As a result of the accident, 163,000 people had to leave their homes. No one died, and the accident is not known to have increased the risk of cancers in Japan.
British Mark Wenman also considers an accident like Fukushima unlikely, because the diesel tanks serving as backup power in Zaporizhia are better protected.
“I wouldn’t be too worried [onnettomuudesta]”, Wenman said In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC.
What other dangers are there in Zaporizhia?
Human error is also a major risk factor in a nuclear power plant. Voimala’s employees work under extreme pressure in the midst of fighting and have been the targets of Russia’s illegal occupation for half a year.
In their open letter last week, the employees wrote that they know how to keep the nuclear power plant’s fission reaction under control, but there is nothing they can do about people’s insanity.