Ukraine has been suffering from the onslaught of Ruscist (Russian/Fascist) occupiers for 27 days. Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Kherson, and dozens of other Ukrainian cities and towns are subject to rocket fire and bombing every hour. From the first days of the war, Russian terrorists have been fighting civilian population and shelling non-military objects. Hospitals, maternity homes, civilian shelters. Footage from places where there was once a Mariupol maternity hospital, children’s hospital or Drama theater stops the blood in the hearts of billions of people around the world since such atrocities can not be committed by human beings.
According to the official UN data alone, 2,032 civilians have fallen victim to Russian inhuman beings since the start of the war: 780 people have died and 1 252 have been injured. More than 100 Ukrainian children died at the hands of the Russian military.
But every day Ukraine and the world are threatened by thousands times more victims of the Russian plague – the threat of a nuclear catastrophe due to military actions of a nuclear terrorist country.
Ukraine is a country with four operating nuclear power plants, namely Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and Yuzhnoukrainsk, which altogether have 15 nuclear power blocks. Also in the exclusion zone there is a non-functioning Chornobyl nuclear power plant with a spent nuclear fuel storage facility.
To date, two out of Ukraine’s six power plants, the Chornobyl and Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plants, have been seized by Russian terrorists. It was done in violation of the UN Charter and conventions, international agreements on the use of nuclear energy and nuclear security and physical protection fundamentals, approved by the IAEA.
The Chornobyl nuclear power plant was using autonomous power for several days due to power outages during the combat activities. This poses two main dangers.
The first is the molten core of the destroyed reactor, which is self-heating. Without ventilation, which requires electricity, hot air forms condensate that drains inside the building, corroding and damaging equipment. Without power supply, personnel held hostage for more than three days have no idea about the levels of radiation inside the building. The second is that the system of wet storage of spent nuclear fuel must be constantly cooled – and in the event of a power outage, nuclear waste will begin to heat up. At high temperatures, zirconium cladding covering the fuel could ignite. Instead, the IAEA officials state there is little risk of fuel ignition because the rods in storage are no longer very hot. However, a study by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2000) found that “the possibility of a zirconium fire cannot be dismissed even many years after a final shutdown of the Chornobyl reactor.”
According to the head of National Nuclear Energy Generating Company of Ukraine “Energoatom” Petro Kotin, if the Chornobyl spent fuel storage and insulation facilities are damaged by the invaders there may be local releases of radiation causing pollution around the storage. The radioactive releases that will threaten the whole country and European countries, and even Russia are also possible. There may be a catastrophe comparable to the scale of the 1986 Chornobyl accident but this time three times larger.
The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (ZNPP) had been shelled by Russian militants, which resulted in fire. On the territory of ZNPP there are 50 units of enemy’s military equipment: tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. 11 “Rosatom” representatives also arrived at the power plant, who, together with the soldiers, established effective control of the nuclear facilities. In fact, with the consent of “Rosatom” officials, ammunition are detonated on the territory of ZNPP.
Source: Energoatom. The invaders destroyed a building of the training center of the Zaporizhzhya NPP
According to the reports of hostages’ relatives and official sources, Ukrainian personnel at both nuclear power plants seized by the Russian military are in inhumane conditions, both psychologically and physically. People do not have access to clean clothes, which is extremely important when working at nuclear facilities. One-time meals and rest period spent on chairs, instead of adequate sleep, critically reduce performance and the required level of concentration in the management of nuclear facilities. The first partial rotation of personnel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant took place on March 20, the 25th day of capture.
It should be understood that the IAEA, the most important structure in the world, which should monitor the peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy, since its inception is very dependent on Russia, especially financially. Also, a Russian citizen Mikhail Chudakov is a Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy of the IAEA. In the official communication, the IAEA states that there is a conflict in Ukraine, not a war.
At the ZNPP, spent nuclear fuel is currently being unloaded into containers for further storage and this process should take place in the presence of the IAEA representatives but they are not sending their specialists to restore and ensure safety at the stations captured by Russia.
The world must remember that 55 % of the Ukrainian electricity is produced with nuclear power. And in the history of mankind, there has never been a war in the country with so many peaceful nuclear objects, which the Russian occupiers are turning into objects of nuclear terrorism.
It is worth remembering that 15 nuclear power reactors in Ukraine are still operating or have been recently shut down. Moreover, Ukrainian stations are packed with hot nuclear fuel, both inside the reactors and in the cooling pools. A possible power outage could lead to the melting of several reactors, a situation similar to the Fukushima disaster.
Therefore, the world must unite even more for the sake of the pressure on Russia, the world’s first nuclear terrorist country. The world should put more pressure so as not to become nuclear ashes.
Today Ukraine defends the world every day! Is it only Ukraine that has the courage to resist evil that has no borders?
The IAEA must immediately dismiss its deputy director who is a Russian citizen. Representatives of this organization must also immediately arrive at the Ukrainian nuclear power plants to ensure personnel’s liberation and to make sure the occupiers back 30 kilometers away from the nuclear power plants.
The main thing is that the sky over Ukraine must be closed. Otherwise, the whole world remains under the threat of a nuclear catastrophe every second!
Iryna Chernysh, Head of SaveDnipro