A fire broke out at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is under Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine (Picture: east2west/AFP/Getty/@WarNewsPL1)
The fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant again highlights the dangers of Russia using the plant for ‘blackmail’, according to an expert who has studied the risks at the facility.
Darya Dolzikova, of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs to be granted ‘immediate’ access to a cooling tower from where thick black smoke was filmed billowing into the sky yesterday.
Ms Dolzikova has previously warned that the potential for Vladimir Putin’s forces to use the largest nuclear power plant in Europe as a ‘giant dirty bomb’ should not be ruled out.
The fallout from a major safety incident at the facility in eastern Ukraine, which has six nuclear reactors, would put Europe’s future at risk, as reported by Metro.co.uk today.
Located in a hotly-contested frontline area in the municipality of Enerhodar, the plant, which dates back to the Soviet era, has been a flashpoint since it was captured by Russian forces in early 2022.
Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame for the latest incident, with Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the military administration in the nearby Ukrainian-held city of Nikopol, saying the occupiers deliberately caused the blaze by setting fire to car tyres.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that radiation levels are within normal limits but warned that ‘Russian terrorists’ are using the plant to blackmail Ukraine, Europe and the world.
Putin has a track record of raising the nuclear spectre in thinly veiled threats to Ukraine and its Western allies, which have escalated during the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine has accused Russia of deliberately starting a fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (Picture: Getty/East2West)
Ms Dolzikova has highlighted the risks posed by the exploitation of the plant — where the reactors are in ‘cold shutdown’ — for military ends.
She said: ‘The latest incident at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant again underscores the dangers facing the facility under Russian occupation.
‘The IAEA needs to be granted access to the cooling tower immediately so that the damage can be inspected, and the likely cause of the incident assessed and reported publicly.
‘I would have serious questions over any refusal by the Russian occupiers to grant such access and to provide full transparency over the incident.
‘Making sure accurate and credible information is available on what happened and any damage to the plant will be key to minimising the blackmail value that Russia might try to draw from the incident.’
A still from a video showing smoke rising from one of the cooling towers at the nuclear power plant (Picture: via @WarNewsPL1)
Ms Dolzikova, research fellow for proliferation and nuclear policy at RUSI, has previously highlighted the long-term risks at the plant.
‘Ultimately, while the ZNPP remains under occupation by Russian forces – who have shown little consideration for human life, nuclear safety or international law – the potential for the site to be used as a giant dirty bomb cannot and should not be ruled out,’ she said.
‘The ongoing military activity in the vicinity also raises the possibility that key systems and equipment at the plant could be damaged in a strike.
‘While the potential for an engineered incident or attack resulting in radioactive release at the ZNPP cannot be ruled out, the more salient and probable – yet less headline-grabbing – threat to the ZNPP is the slow degradation of the plant’s systems and the consequent safety and economic implications of this chronic deterioration.’
Videos shared online appear to show a plume of smoke rising from one of the cooling towers, which are used for the power operation of the facility.
Mr Zelenskyy said: ‘We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the IAEA to react. Russia must be held accountable for this.’
Professor Robin Grimes, professor of materials physics at Imperial College London, told Metro.co.uk that Russia must be ‘open and transparent’ in its dealings with the safety inspectors.
‘All the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have been in cold shut-down for months,’ he said.
‘Consequently, they no longer require active cooling as, for example, did the reactors at Fukushima.
‘However, the nuclear fuel and internals within the reactor pressure vessels are still very radioactive.
‘As such the reactor pressure vessels must remain intact.’
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Mr Grimes, who is a former Ministry of Defence nuclear advisor, explained that the reactor pressure vessels — thick steel cylinders holding coolant and nuclear fuel — are key to the safety of the site.
‘While, if the pressure vessel were to be breached there would not be an explosion, and I would expect the nuclear fuel to remain largely intact, cooling water in direct contact with the fuel would contain some radioactive species that would cause some contamination in the immediate area of the plant,’ he said.
‘It is therefore very important to be assured that the reactor pressure vessels are safe and secure.
‘I have no doubt that the IAEA is seeking assurance that this is the case and that this is a top priority for them at the current time.
‘Of course, we do not know the cause of the fire.
‘However, it is the current responsibility of Russia to maintain the integrity of the site and they need to be fully open and transparent to the IAEA and the international community.’
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been a flashpoint during the war in Ukraine (Picture: Life.zp.ua/e2w)
The IAEA has requested immediate access to the tower after its experts witnessed ‘thick dark smoke’ and heard ‘multiple explosions’ yesterday.
The agency said that the plant had confirmed there is no risk of ‘elevated’ radiation levels, which its experts independently verified were normal.
A drone attack had caused the fire, according to information given by the nuclear plant to the IAEA.
The account conflicts with both the Ukrainian assessments and comments by the Kremlin-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, who said that Ukrainian shelling caused the blaze.
IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi said: ‘These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident.
‘They must stop now.’
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