Frederic Hauge, President of the Bellona Environmental Foundation, is closely following the situation around the nuclear power plant in Ukraine. He calls it serious and fears the consequences.
From night to Friday Heavy fighting near the entrance to Zaporizhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. He also started burning it on site.
– This is dangerous, says the president of the Bellona Environmental Foundation, Friedrich Hauge.
For three decades, the Foundation has worked in Russia and Ukraine, among others, to highlight topics around nuclear safety and environmental pollution.
Three of the reactors were closed two weeks ago, two more in recent days, but one is still running. The organization believes that the six represent the probability of a major accident.
Hauge is also concerned about storage pools that store spent nuclear fuel. These also rely on energy to stay cool. An indiscriminate missile can also hit and destroy cold water circulation.
– Consequences of attacking a nuclear power plant … Yes, we risk an accident that could equal Fukushima, and possibly much worse, he says.
The Fukushima accident occurred in one accident A nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011caused by earthquakes and the subsequent tsunami.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also uses strong words after a fire broke out at the facility as a result of the fighting.
“If it explodes, it will be 10 times bigger than Chernobyl,” he wrote on Twitter.
pointing to The worst nuclear accident in history Which happened in 1986 in Chernobyl in Ukraine (then the Soviet Union). area like Russian forces occupied everything.
Nuclear safety guarantee
According to AFP, the Ukrainian authorities announced that the nuclear power plant had been secured.
“Nuclear safety has been guaranteed,” the AFP news agency quoted the director of the power station as saying.
Early Friday morning, they also reported that the fire had been put out.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has not measured elevated levels of radioactivity after a fire was reported following explosions in Europe’s largest region. Nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.
According to AFP, the Ukrainian authorities announced that the nuclear power plant had been secured.
– Nuclear safety has been guaranteed, according to the director of the power plant, according to AFP.
The Norwegian Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety described the situation as serious.
They also say they have access to Ukrainian and European measuring stations that do not show elevated levels.
– We are constantly studying scenarios of what could happen inside the nuclear and radiological sphere, including at nuclear power plants and in the area around Chernobyl, they write about them Locations.
Russian technology
Bellona fears that the explosion will release radioactivity into the air and water.
– In the coming days, the wind direction will blow southeast of the Crimea and there may be rains that will lead radioactivity to the ground in large areas, says Hoge.
He also notes that the power plant is located on the banks of the Dnieper River and fears pollution for several kilometers all the way to the Black Sea.
– But unlike what happened during Chernobyl, don’t nuclear power plants today have newer and safer technology?
– We’re talking about reactors that are much older, says Hauge.
He believes the Russian attackers know what the consequences will be.
– This is Russian nuclear technology. The Bellona leader says that the decision to launch an armed conflict against or near nuclear power plants can be compared to playing Russian roulette with nuclear weapons.
15 nuclear reactors in Ukraine
According to Ukrainian state nuclear power plant operator Energoatom, six of Ukraine’s 15 operating nuclear power reactors have been disconnected from the grid as of Tuesday this week, to reduce the need for cooling.
In addition to the giant Zaporizhia plant, Ukraine operates three other nuclear power plants: Southern Ukraine in the center of the country, and Rivne and Khmelnytskyi, both of which are located in the western region of Ukraine.
According to experts, a direct attack on the destruction of Ukrainian nuclear reactors is unlikely, while the control of nuclear energy sources is probably an obvious strategic goal of the Russian invaders.
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