Amid constant bombings in the region of the Zaporizhia plant and exchanges of accusations between Russia and Ukraine for responsibility for the attacks, the international community fears a possible nuclear disaster.
Russian troops took control of the nuclear complex in mid-March, but the plant continued to be operated by Ukrainian technicians. According to information provided to CNN by an employee who did not want to be identified, about 35% to 40% of the workers left their jobs.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry revealed that it is considering closing the plant, prompting a warning from the Ukrainian state nuclear agency that it could result in a catastrophe.
The “negative evolution” of the plant could make Russia ‘place the 5th and 6th plants’ in the ‘cold reserve’, which would lead to the closure of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant,” the ministry said in a statement, blaming Ukraine for bombing the site. .
Ukrainian authorities deny they were responsible and blame the Russians for the attacks that damaged the complex. Energoatom, the Ukrainian state-owned nuclear power company, said the prospect of closing the plant would bring “the scenario of a radiation disaster closer”.
That’s because a breakdown in the power supply would interrupt the cooling of the water in the plant’s fuel rods. Without mains power, standby diesel generators would kick in. If they failed, we would have “a more serious situation,” Western officials said.
THE CNN could not independently verify Ukrainian or Russian allegations about the attacks.
In a conversation with Vladimir Putin on Friday (19), French President Emmanuel Macron said he was concerned about security risks in the region, according to the French government.
Also according to the federal administration, the Russian president agreed to send a mission of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to Zaporizhia.
The two officials are expected to hold talks in the coming days, according to a note sent to journalists by Macron’s office.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative in Vienna, Austria, said an IAEA delegation could visit the nuclear plant in early September.
“It’s too early to say anything about the details. These are extremely sensitive issues. We are discussing and will continue to discuss the modalities of the mission, the route, the number of people who will participate in it, how long they will be at headquarters, what tasks are sent there,” Ulyanov said during an online press conference on Friday (19). ).
“When the mission might happen, predictions are not always met, but according to my feelings, we can quite realistically speak of the first few days of September unless some factors outside of the objectives resurface,” Ulyanov said.
Recently, a joint statement by the European Union and 42 other countries, including the United States, called on Russia to withdraw its forces from the plant.
In early August, the IAEA even warned that parts of the plant had been affected due to recent attacks, risking a potential “unacceptable” radiation leak.
Also at the beginning of the month, the secretary general of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, asked for permission for international inspectors to have access to Zaporizhia.
“Any attack on a nuclear power plant is a suicidal thing,” Guterres told a news conference in Japan, where he was attending the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.
Reactions from the international community
In light of the uncertainties surrounding the situation at the plant, a senior US defense official criticized Russia’s role in the security of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, saying its actions in the region are “the height of irresponsibility”.
“This is a situation that the US government across the board and the national security community are watching very, very closely. We are very concerned about military operations in or near any of Ukraine’s nuclear power facilities and very concerned about any reports of damage specifically to Zaporizhia power lines,” the official said Friday.
“We have made it very clear that fighting near a nuclear plant is dangerous, it is irresponsible and we want the fighters and Russia to operate with extreme caution and not take actions that could result in a possible radiological release,” the official said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would discuss the issue with Putin after speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the city of Lviv.
“We will discuss this matter with Putin, and we will specifically ask him for Russia to play its part in this regard as an important step towards world peace,” Erdogan told reporters on his flight back from Lviv.
According to the interview report, Erdogan reportedly reported that Zelensky asked Russia to remove all mines in the area.
expert assessment
While the possibility of a nuclear disaster harks back to Chernobyl, experts say the 1986 accident is unlikely to be repeated in Zaporizhia.
The president of the European Nuclear Society, Leon Cizelj, believes that “it is not very likely that this plant will suffer damage”. he told the CNN that, “in the very unlikely event that it were, the radioactive problem would primarily affect Ukrainians living nearby,” rather than spreading across Eastern Europe, as happened with Chernobyl.
“If we use past experience, Fukushima can be a worst-case scenario comparison,” added Cizelj. That’s because, although serious, the damage caused by the collapse in the Japanese city in 2011 was more localized.
According to experts, the worst-case scenario would be a failure of the plant’s safety systems, causing the nuclear reactor to heat up quickly.
“The main danger in this case is damage to the systems needed to keep the reactor fuel cool: external power lines, emergency diesel generators and equipment to dissipate heat from the reactor core,” said James Acton, co-director of the Reactor Program. Nuclear Policy from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, at CNN.
“In a war, repairing this equipment or applying countermeasures may be impossible. At worst, the fuel can melt and spread large amounts of radioactivity into the environment,” he added.
*With information from Ellie Kaufman, Isil Sariyuce, Joseph Ataman, Oren Liebermann, Mariya Knight, Rob Picheta
Source: CNN Brasil
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