Ukraine, concerns grow over dangers at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

2023-04-26 16:46:49, Kosova & Bota CNA

April 26 marks the anniversary of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine. This is the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. Voice of America correspondent Lesia Bakaletes reports from Warsaw that experts say that four nuclear power plants are at risk due to aggression in Ukraine. But the most vulnerable nuclear plant, which is located in Zaporizhia, has been under the control of Russian forces for more than a year.

Last March, Russian forces took control of Ukraine's Zaporizha nuclear power plant. Experts say that since that time the plant has been operating in violation of safety standards. The Voice of America spoke with the board member of the European Nuclear Association, Powel Gajda.

" As a result of the Russian aggression, it is impossible to respect all the safety standards that are normally required in the nuclear power plant."

Ukraine's regulatory body for nuclear power plants, Energoatom, says Russian projectiles have damaged the plant's infrastructure.

“Systems and security degrade and maintenance is not done on time. Equipment can fail at any moment," says Olga Kosharna, a nuclear safety expert with the Ukrainian Nuclear Association.

Eyewitnesses say that there is Russian military equipment in the courtyard of the plant.

" Armed Russians dictated the nuclear station. They took control of the facility, the security perimeter and deployed their military equipment, tanks, armored cars and soldiers."

Oleg Dudar headed the plant's operations division. He worked for six months while the plant was under Russian occupation and then decided to leave.

"Those who are not present at the power station cannot imagine how serious the situation is there, not even me who stayed for several months."

All six reactors at the nuclear plant have been shut down since September. Which means that the scale of the potential disaster has decreased, says Mark Zheleznyak, a professor at the Institute of Environmental Radioactivity at Fukushima University.

"There can't be a big explosion because the reactors are not working. Two towns near the plant are most at risk. It is the town of Enderhodar where mainly those who work in the plant live. The other city is Nikopoli, about 15 kilometers from the nuclear power plant.

Poland's National Atomic Energy Agency says that while the threat level has been lowered, the plant needs electricity to cool the reactors. So far, the plant has had six power outages, the last one in March. This happened because of Russian bombing, says the Ukrainian regulator, Energoatom.

"Electricity is needed to operate the water pumps for cooling the reactors. If there is no circulating water to cool the reactors, temperatures can rise to the point of melting the core and nuclear fuel, which releases radioactive isotopes," says Marcin Dabrowski, with Poland's National Atomic Energy Agency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency mission has been at the plant since September, reporting in April that bombings and explosions could be heard near the plant. The director general of the IAEA (Rafael Mariano Grossi) called the situation on the ground "dangerous" and vowed to continue pressing for the protection of the nuclear power plant./ VOA