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PLAYING WITH NUCLEAR FIRE: HOW RUSSIA IS TURNING INTO A TERRORIST STATE

2022.03.10 18:25

The war in Ukraine has been going on for 15 days. For the first time in history,
hostilities are taking place in a country with a developed nuclear
infrastructure, and for the first time humanity is facing questions important
for everyone without exception: how to ensure the safety of working nuclear
power plants, storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste
under such conditions.

Sample photo. Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. Photo: Dmytro Smolyenko / Zuma
Press / Forum

Ukraine is the home of 4 nuclear power plants (15 power units), as well as the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which has been mothballed and nevertheless
requires constant maintenance. Lately, two nuclear power plants – the closed
Chernobyl NPP and the operating Zaporizhzhia NPP – have been seized by Russian
troops with battles. Both of these plants have spent nuclear waste storage
facilities, which are just as dangerous as the reactors. Another nuclear power
plant, the South Ukraine plant, is in an active combat zone.

In addition, on March 6, Russian troops, who regularly bombard Kharkiv, launched
another strike against the city: they fired a Grad multiple rocket launcher at
the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, which houses a nuclear research
reactor. It is loaded with 37 nuclear fuel elements. Damage to the reactor and
nuclear material storage facility is also dangerous.

Seizing the plant is one thing. It is important to ensure its safety and
operation afterward. There are already serious problems with this.


CHERNOBYL NPP: BALANCING ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER

Chernobyl has been 15 days without a new shift. The current shift started work
on February 23 and the new shift had no time to replace them before the invasion
of the Russians. Now there are about 210 people – 95 specialists, station
security guards, doctors, and firemen – who are practically held, hostage.
According to official information, the personnel of the station is given a rest,
but usually, one shift at the station lasts 12 hours, and now the same people
have worked for more than two weeks under stress and pressure under the
supervision of the military. At such dangerous facilities, any mistake – even
just from fatigue – can cost the lives of thousands of people. Ukrainian
authorities have already asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to
help rotate the personnel of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. So far, to no
avail.

On March 9, it emerged that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the town of
Slavutich were completely de-energized as a result of the actions of Russian
troops in the Exclusion Zone. It is still impossible to restore the power
supply. At the same time, the plant is in critical need of electricity, as the
cooling system of the spent nuclear fuel storage facility depends on it.

Sample photo. Completely destroyed lyceum building as a result of Russian rocket
fire in Vasylkiv, Ukraine. March 7, 2022. Photo: MP / Belsat

What is the threat of all this? Olga Kosharnaya, director of information and
public relations for the association-Ukrainian Nuclear Forum, explains:

“As a result of the hostilities, the 750 kV Kiyv-NPP line was damaged. NPP and
all nuclear facilities in the Exclusion Zone – SAYAP-1, SAYAP-2 were left
without a power supply. SAYYAP-1 is a wet-type storage facility for spent
nuclear fuel. SAYYAP-2 is a dry storage facility. Emergency diesel generators
are on to supply power to safety-critical systems. But there is only a 48-hour
supply of diesel fuel.

SAYAP is a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.

The SAYAP-1 needs cooling provided by pumps to remove residual heat. If the
pumps do not work, the heat release will not be removed, the water in the pool
could boil, which would lead to the formation of radioactive steam, followed by
the melting of structures, which would lead to a severe accident. If ventilation
systems do not work, the radiation dose to personnel will increase, and
radioactive gas and steam emissions will spread not only to Ukraine but also to
Belarus and the Russian Federation.

SHVYAP-2 will not be affected by the lack of electricity, because concrete
containers are installed in concrete modules and cooling takes place through
natural ventilation.

On March 10, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said to the military that the ChNPP would be
connected to the Belarusian energy system. But it looks like there will be more
and more such problems that will require a prompt solution. No country in the
world has had its nuclear power plants attacked by the armed forces of another
state. No one designed them with the expectation that a war would take place
nearby.


SEIZURE OF A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT AS AN ACT OF TERRORISM?

On March 4, it emerged that Russians used weapons (!) to attack the working
Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Six VVER-1000
water-cooled nuclear reactors are operating at the plant. Let’s dwell on them in
greater detail, since the same reactors are installed at other operating plants.

The VVER-1000 reactors differ from Chernobyl reactors and are not
graphite-fueled, they are pressurized water reactors. They are old Soviet
reactors, covered with protective shields. These caps protect mainly from the
internal impact, but not that much from the external one: mostly from snow,
wind, hurricane. Such a containment can theoretically withstand a fall of a
small aircraft, but it will not protect the reactor from large-caliber artillery
fire.

If depressurized or damaged, the reactor under pressure will “spit out” most of
the hazardous substances into the environment. Then, depending on the direction
of the wind, these substances will fall to the ground and make it impossible to
farm vast areas and live there. That is, the situation will be comparable to the
famous Chernobyl disaster.

Sample photo. Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. Photo: Dmytro Smolyenko / Zuma
Press / Forum

In addition, the plants have container storage facilities with spent nuclear
fuel, which poses an even greater danger if they are accidentally or
intentionally damaged. For example, at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, the containers are
directly on the industrial site, and a fire at the plant occurred during
military operations in close proximity to the plant.

Hazardous radionuclides such as cesium, strontium, and plutonium remain in
concentrated amounts in the storage tanks. There is no pressure and temperature
like in a reactor, so if a shell hits it, it will most likely reach hundreds of
meters, not dozens of kilometers. The bad thing here is that this is very
concentrated radioactive waste, very evil substances. They can end up on the
site of the nuclear power plant, they can be blown away by the wind and washed
away by the rain, they can pollute the soil and rivers. There is no way to get
them back. A huge number of hazardous radionuclides will be released into the
environment and will form an area of 30-100 km, unfit for any living thing.


IMPOTENCE OF THE IAEA AND THE POWER OF THE POWERLESS

The responsibility for the safety of the seized nuclear power plants rests with
the one who controls the facility. In our case, it is Russia. However, the IAEA
for some reason is still demanding explanations from Ukraine that cannot send
its representatives and inspectors there. By indirect signs, there are
assumptions that representatives of Rosatom are present at Zaporizhzhia NPP to
control the work of the plant and the personnel taken hostage. We did not manage
to get an official comment from the corporation as their press service was not
available.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the IAEA, urged to immediately renounce
violence and the use of weapons near nuclear power plants.

“Such empty calls are evidence of the impotence of the IAEA. As of February 24,
the IAEA should have recruited a dozen of its representatives and sent them to
Ukrainian nuclear power plants for monitoring. Perhaps this would have been a
deterrent for Russia. Ukraine had asked for this. The IAEA should have reminded
that there are nuclear facilities on the territory of the country attacked by
Russia and demanded a kind of safety zone, 20-30 kilometers around the nuclear
power plants. Now it is too late,” Russian nuclear physicist and
environmentalist Andrei Ozharovsky told Belsat.

In 2009, it was declared that any armed attack or threat to attack a nuclear
facility used for peaceful purposes would violate principles of the UN Charter,
international law, and the IAEA Statute. After February 24, the IAEA was obliged
to go to the UN to document the violations.

“But the IAEA has evaded, there is no hope for this organization. It’s appalling
that once again, the international community can neither stop the aggressor nor
protect the especially dangerous nuclear infrastructure facilities,” says the
expert.

The actions of Russian troops fall under Article 2 of the International
Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and Article 7 of the
Convention for the Protection of Nuclear Material (Russia is a party to these
conventions) and can be viewed as crimes that should be subject to strict
sanctions.

Sample photo. The evacuation of civilians in the town of Irpen, Ukraine,
continues. March 9, 2022. Photo: MP / Belsat

“It is necessary to initiate criminal proceedings in international courts and
hold the Russian Federation accountable. It is also necessary to impose
sanctions on Rosatom and exclude Russia from all nuclear associations of the
world,” Olga Kosharnaya says.

She calls on nuclear workers of the world to unite and put pressure on their
governments to prevent a catastrophe in Ukraine.

In the meantime, ordinary people can monitor the level of radiation background
themselves through this map.

You can track wind direction here: https://www.windy.com/.



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