Tenterhooks of Concern Over Moscow's Uraine Nuclear Plant Occupation

"This deliberate terror on the part of the aggressor can have global catastrophic consequences for the whole world."

"[Russia is playing with] nuclear blackmail [at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant]."

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"The Russian military is looking for suppliers of fuel for diesel generators, which must be turned on after the shutdown of power units and in the absence of external power supply for nuclear-fuel cooling systems."

Energoatom  

"The heating system of the city is supplied by the nuclear power plant."

"So if they turn it off, there’s no way to heat [our buildings]. It’s just a huge problem."

Governor of Zaporizhzhia oblast, Oleksandr Starukh

 

"The nuclear regulator would usually require you to test something to prove that it’s absolutely safe … "

"It’s not like you can experiment with a nuclear power plant."

"And what they’re doing now is really against all the norms."

"The problem with Russia is that they’re so reckless."

"They can come and see but again, it’s not their plant, so they don’t know everything they need to know about how it operates and what can and should be done with this plant."

 Yuriy Vitrenko, chairman, gas company Naftogaz

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Photograph:( Reuters )

Kyiv has been given fresh concerns over the Russian occupation of their vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, when Moscow announced Thursday it could shut down the largest nuclear power station in all of Europe. Russia's reason? that it was being shelled, accusing Ukraine of shelling the plant, when Ukraine has refrained from responding to Russian shelling from the plant toward nearby towns. The threat is of grave concern to Kyiv, warning it would serve to increase risk of a nuclear catastrophe.

International calls for a demilitarized zone around the nuclear plant have been rejected by Moscow. The plant is still operated by Ukrainian engineers, but under Russian occupation. Not an ideal situation either for the Ukrainian nuclear personnel, or for the safety and security of the plant itself given the circumstances which include stockpiles of Russian arms within the plant campus.

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy agreed to the parameters of a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the plant during talks with the UN secretary-general, calling on the United Nations to give practical, beyond verbal, support of the plant's demilitarization. The station is located on the south bank of a huge reservoir, an area now controlled by Russian forces. On the north bank, Ukrainian forces ae stationed.

 

Overview of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, in this picture released on August 18, 2022. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

 

In the past week new incidents of shelling at the plant have occurred, each side blaming the other. Ukraine points out that Russian troops use the plant as a shield for its forces launching strikes across the reservoir toward Ukrainian cities. According to Russia's foreign ministry, it is "unacceptable" that calls are being made for a demilitarized zone surrounding the plant. Should the plant come under further attack, it threatens, the plant could be shut down by Moscow's orders.

As Ukrainian authorities see the situation, the game plan behind Russia's intransigence over the security of the power plant lies in its plans to shut the plant, severing it from Ukraine's power grid, switching over to Russia's; the plant output would then benefit Russia's power grid. 

The Ukrainian nuclear energy company Energoatom holds that to shut down the plant would be to increase risk of "a radiation disaster", given that disconnecting the complex's generators from Ukraine's power system would then prevent the capability of the plant operation to maintain nuclear fuel in a cool state should a power outage occur at the plant.

 

It was the lack of cooling capacity at the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011 in Japan, caused by a loss of electricity supply in the wake of a tsunami following a serious earthquake that led to a partial reactor meltdown when backup generators were overwhelmed.

Experts are more worried about a cooling failure at the Zaporizhzhia plant, held by Russia since March, than the fighting or shelling around it. Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images