After the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl plant in 1986, a protective dome was built over the destroyed fourth reactor.
Sergei Supinsky / AFP via Getty Images
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Sergei Supinsky / AFP via Getty Images
After the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl plant in 1986, a protective dome was built over the destroyed fourth reactor.
Sergei Supinsky / AFP via Getty Images
Russia’s occupation of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine and its surrounding exclusion has raised alarm in the international community, with many world leaders wondering if Russia chose to occupy the area for any particular reason. .
But Chernobyl might not really be the biggest nuclear concern in Ukraine right now, says James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
What worries him more is that the four operating nuclear power plants in the country contain spent fuel, which is more radioactive than what is left at Chernobyl today.
Acton said the seizure of Chernobyl may just be the result of Russia’s attempt to “conquer all of Ukraine or at least all of eastern Ukraine.”
“Chernobyl’s in Ukraine, so I think from that perspective, the Russians want to get to grips with everything in the country,” Acton said. “Also, just from a geographical perspective, from where Russian forces are located on the Ukrainian border, to the Kyiv attack, Chernobyl is there.”
Acton said that Russia does not necessarily have to avoid going through the exclusion zone, adding that there may be no strategic, symbolic or political reason for Russia to choose a nuclear site.
After the invasion, the International Atomic Energy Agency said there was no “demolition” at Chernobyl and that the rest of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants were operating safely.
The large exclusion zone around Chernobyl is one reason why Acton said he is more concerned about other plants operating.
“If there’s a weapon used against Chernobyl, you know, there’s some new type of accident that causes an additional leak of radioactive material, the fact that it’s in a large exclusion zone would greatly mitigate it. consequences of that,” he said.
While nuclear power is not a primary concern for Ukrainians forced to leave their country, Acton said Russia’s actions remain “extremely disturbing.”
Nuclear power facilities are built and designed to have a very low probability of major accidents, but among the very few accidents that have occurred throughout history, the impact has been enormous, including the 1986 incident at Chernobyl.
“The likelihood of a major accident at a factory in Ukraine today is no longer small, but the consequences are still huge,” Acton said. “It worries me because this has gone from a very low probability, very high consequence risk category to a not so low probability, high consequence risk category.
“I can’t put a number on that, but you know the risk is much higher than any regulator has ever considered acceptable,” he said.
