The Russian forces shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – the largest nuclear power plant in Europe – in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar on early Friday, causing a fire in the surrounding buildings and sparking panic among the world leaders. Ukrainian authorities say that the Russians are now in control of the power plant.
The attack on the nuclear power plant – a war crime – prompted the world leaders to accuse Russia of acting recklessly and the putting the safety of the entire Europe in jeopardy.
Russian forces shelled the Zaporizhzhia early on Friday and captured it soon afterwards. Leading nuclear authorities were concerned about the damage to the power station and its affects. The assault triggered phone class between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Joe Biden and other world leaders. The US State Department also activated its nuclear incidence response team on high alert as a precaution.
Friday’s attack came as the Russian onslaught on Ukraine entered its second week. A round of talks between the two parties yielded tentative agreement to establish safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid.
Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that the shells were directly in the nuclear facility and damaged one of its six reactors. There was nuclear fuel inside the damaged reactor, but it was under renovation and therefore not operating.
Tuz said that firefighters cannot get near the raging fire to hose it down as there are being fired at. Ukrainian foreign minister tweeted a plea to the Russians to stop attacking the firefighters so that they can extinguish the flames.
“We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire,” Tuz said in a video statement. “There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.”
The assault renewed fear that the Russian invasion could damage one of Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors and lead to an emergency like the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, that happened 110 to the north of the capital Kyiv.
In a an emotional speech in the middle of the night, Ukrainian premier Zelensky feared that the explosion would be “the end of everyone. The end of Europe. The evacuation of Europe.”
“Only urgent action by Europe can stop the Russian troops,” he said. “Do not allow the death of Europe from a catastrophe at a nuclear power station.”
However, most experts did not see the explosion as the harbinger of nuclear meltdown. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that the fire had not affected essential equipment at the plant and Ukraine’s regulator did not note any difference between the radiation levels. The American Nuclear Council concurred, saying that the latest radiation levels do not differ from the radiation pattern noted at the plant previously.
The United States embassy in Ukraine has called the attack on the nuclear power plant a war crime. The power plant houses tons of fissile, radioactive material that is meticulously split to generate power and electricity. There are multiple layers of security protocols and safety considerations in handling the nuclear fuel, but sometimes accidents do occur. It is highly unlikely that radioactive material – housed under multiple layers of tough, reinforced concrete – will be exposed to the external world, but an attack like Friday’s could would easily penetrate the concrete dome and expose the radioactive material.
Nuclear incidents like the 1986 Chernobyl accident and the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster have taught the world a lesson: nuclear plants are not be meddle with. Nuclear power is a double-edged sword: left on their own devices, nuclear power plants generate 15% of world’s electricity; but when disrupted, these plants are tools of destruction.