Fire at Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine Puts Experts on Edge

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant successful Ukraine caught occurrence connected Sunday and Moscow and Kyiv are blaming each other.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared quality of the occurrence successful a station connected X supra a melodramatic video that appeared to amusement fume pouring retired of a cooling tower. “We person recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers person started a occurrence connected the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” Zelenskyy, noting that radiation levels were normal.

Enerhodar. We person recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers person started a occurrence connected the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Currently, radiation levels are wrong norm. However, arsenic agelong arsenic the Russian terrorists support power implicit the atomic plant, the… pic.twitter.com/TQUi3BJg4J

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 11, 2024

On Telegram, Yevgeny Balitsky—the Kremlin-installed politician of Zaporizhzhia—blamed the occurrence connected a Ukrainian UAV. “This evening, arsenic the effect of an incendiary drone strike, 1 of the cooling towers of the atomic powerfulness works ignited,” helium said. “The Ukrainian regime, supported by NATO, is systematically shelling the full northbound of the [region] with UAVS, and [artillery].”

Balitsky said the occurrence had been contained and, successful a follow-up post, said that radiation levels were normal. The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency said it was monitoring the situation and that determination is nary contiguous interaction connected atomic safety. It besides said it had requested an contiguous inspection of the plant.

“These reckless attacks endanger atomic information astatine the works and summation the hazard of a atomic accident. They indispensable halt now,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, manager wide of the IAEA, said successful a statement.

The satellite has been watching the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant intimately for years. Russia took power of the powerfulness works successful the aboriginal days of its authoritative crushed penetration of Ukraine successful 2022. Black and achromatic CCTV cameras live-streamed the warring to the world. Fires broke retired then, too, but were quickly contained.

The representation of a cooling operation connected occurrence successful Ukraine makes everyone tense for bully reason. The Chernobyl catastrophe dumped tons of radiation into the world’s aerial and gave the satellite a worst-case presumption of what a atomic meltdown would look like. But atomic powerfulness works tech has changed a batch since the days of Chernobyl, and it’s improbable that immoderate of the reactors astatine Zaporizhzhia would meltdown arsenic dramatically.

But warring astir atomic powerfulness plants is still, y’know, bad. And it mightiness soon hap astatine different one. The Zaporizhzhia occurrence comes arsenic Ukraine’s crushed penetration of the Kursk portion of Russia edges adjacent the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. The Kursk works is smaller than the 1 astatine Zaporizhzhia, but determination are ever risks erstwhile warring adjacent atomic material.

“At this juncture, I would similar to entreaty to each sides to workout maximum restraint successful bid to debar a atomic mishap with the imaginable for superior radiological consequences,” the IAEA’s Grossi said.