The tensions at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant: Ukrainian intelligence warned today (Thursday) of a Russian provocation that will take place tomorrow at the nuclear facility located in Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine, after Moscow had earlier accused Kyiv of planning a similar provocation, and a man-made disaster.
In the meantime, the power plant workers posted a severe warning on their Telegram account and stated that the repeated shelling of the reactor, which both countries blame each other for, is irresponsibility and human madness. “The attacks on the power plant are becoming much stronger and more dangerous from time to time,” the message stated. “Stop and think, what is happening right now is terrible and devoid of any logic. An accident will lead to a nuclear disaster greater than Fukushima and Chernobyl.”
“It’s approaching a very dangerous point”: Europe fears a nuclear disaster in Ukraine
IAEA director: fears a nuclear disaster in Ukraine
Radioactive fallout that would cause damage could spread within a radius of 10 to 20 km from Zaporizhia, according to nuclear experts. At the same time, the experts tend to contradict the claim that an accident at the facility would lead to a disaster all over Europe, noting that the main threat is to the immediate environment Earlier this month, an impact occurred near the fuel storage area at the station, with a missile that hit about 10 meters from the storage area. “If the missile had hit the tanks, a radioactive accident would have occurred,” said the head of the Ukrainian Atomic Energy Agency.
At the same time, “the probability that the reactor will be damaged is low”, explained an expert on atomic energy in Europe. “A radioactive leak will mainly harm Ukrainian citizens who live near the area, and the station’s employees, and will not spread to Eastern Europe, as happened in Chernobyl.”
The power plant in Zaporizhia was occupied by Russian forces back in March, but the station’s workers continued their work and their daily routine, and in the announcement they issued, they did not specify which of the two countries was to blame for the shelling.