An explosion at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant ‘is not even comparable to Hiroshima or Nagasaki’, a Ukrainian opposition leader has told MailOnline.
Such a blast would be ‘a much more terrifying and massive nuclear accident that, in the conditions of such a war, can lead to unpredictable consequences,’ he said.
The warning from Yuriy Kostenko, the former Minister of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine, came as President Volodymyr Zelensky this week told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Russia was planning ‘dangerous provocations’ at the plant, the largest in Europe.
A statement issued by the Ukrainian armed forces quoted ‘operational data’ as saying that ‘explosive devices’ had been placed on the roof of the station’s third and fourth reactors on Tuesday. An attack was possible ‘in the near future’.
Russia and Ukraine have regularly accused each other of putting the plant’s safety at risk since the Kremlin launched large-scale hostilities in Ukraine last February and seized the plant and the city it is located within days.
President Volodymyr Zelensky this week told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Russia was planning ‘dangerous provocations’ at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe (pictured on June 15)
Yuriy Kostenko, the former Minister of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine (left), has said an explosion at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant ‘is not even comparable to Hiroshima or Nagasaki’. Mark Savchuk, Head of Oversight Committee of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (right), has it would be foolish to rule out Russia carrying out such an attack in the face of the on-going Ukrainian counteroffensive
Kostenko, the current leader of the Ukrainian People’s Party, warned of the scale of the disaster should Russia carry out an attack on the plant.
‘None of the analysts will dare to assess what to do and how when active combat operations are taking place in the territory of Zaporizhia Oblast and suddenly a reactor or a spent nuclear fuel storage facility explodes,’ he said.
The fallout would be greater than that seen when the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed early last month, he said.
It is believed Russia blew the dam from the inside in order to flood the region to the south, and thus prevent Ukraine from making gains in its counteroffensive in that region, which would have put even more pressure on Putin’s armies.
Russia has accused Ukraine of destroying the dam, despite Moscow’s armies being in control of it at the time, and it being nearly impenetrable from the outside.
‘The disaster at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is a precursor to events that can occur on a much larger and more terrifying scale at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant,’ Kostenko warned.
Mark Savchuk, Head of Oversight Committee of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, told MailOnline it would be foolish to rule out Russia carrying out such an attack in the face of the on-going Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Savchuk specialises in the transparency of the energy sector and macro economic outlook, having studied civil engineering at City University, London.
He agreed with Zelensky’s assessment that ‘Radiation has no borders,’ saying that an attack on the nuclear plant would not be confined to Ukraine.
‘Zelensky is not wrong,’ Savchuk said.
‘After numerous atrocities committed in Ukraine (Bucha Massacre, daily bombings of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure by cruise and ballistic missiles, blowing up Kakhovka Dam) it is completely plausible to assume that Russian forces, faced with a push from Ukrainian counter-offensive, will choose to blow up Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant before retreating from the occupied Energodar.
‘Russia is extremely unstable and is capable of unspeakable horror including nuclear terrorism,’ he added, before calling on the West to cut remaining ties with Russia.
‘I think it is a good time for the Western countries to ask themselves whether they want to do business with a country that is capable of blackmailing the whole continent both with massive man-made ecological disasters (blowing up Nova Kakhovka Dam) and now – a possible sabotage at ZNPP,’ he warned.
Hiroshima, 1945: The ruins of the Japanese city are seen from the air after the United States dropped an atomic bomb towards the end of the Second World War
World War II, Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right), August 1945, Japan (file photo)
The Ukrainian government has issued guidelines to its citizens over what to do in the event of a nuclear disaster at the plant (pictured)
The Zaporizhzhia plant is the largest in Europe and among the tenth largest in the world, and before the war generated about half of Ukraine’s nuclear power.
It consists of six Soviet-designed water-cooled reactors that contain uranium 235, each of which has the capacity to generate 950 megawatts – with a single megawatt capable of providing energy for 400 to 900 homes for a whole year.
The reactors need to be constantly cooled by passing water through them. If the water is cut out, then a reactor could lose cooling and the fuel could start melting.
This would cause pressure to build up, ultimately leading to an explosion.
There have only been two nuclear accidents considered ‘major’ by the International Nuclear Event Scale – the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the then-Soviet controlled Ukraine, and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster which was triggered by a tsunami that flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Neither were triggered by an act of war.
Only the United States had so far used nuclear weapons in anger – in the 1945 attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
‘Fat Man’, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, had a blast yield of 21 kilotons. The blast killed an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 people.
Should the ZPP be attacked, many people would have to be evacuated to escape an invisible radioactive cloud that would spill out over Ukraine and Europe, with its effect being felt for years to come – as was the case with the Chernobyl disaster, which saw thousands of people flee their homes in Ukraine.
Scientists fear a mass radiation release far more than a potential explosion on account of the huge area such a disaster would impact.
With Ukraine currently being a war zone, any emergency response would be complicated further, and thousands could fall ill from radiation sickness.
Kostenko, the current leader of the Ukrainian People’s Party, warned of the scale of the disaster should Russia carry out an attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (pictured, July 5)
The fallout would be greater than that seen when the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed early last month, the experts said. Pictured: The Dnipro Hydroelectric Station and rocky islands which became visible again after water level in the Dnipro river sharply dropped following Kakhovka dam destruction, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, June 25
Kostenko and Savchuk’s warning came as Ukraine and Russia both accused each other of planning an attack on the power plant.
Citing intelligence reports, Zelensky said Russian troops had placed ‘objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units’ of plant. The objects could be used to ‘simulate’ an attack, he said, meaning a false flag attack.
A statement from the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said the ‘foreign objects’ were placed on the outer roof of the plant’s third and fourth power units.
‘Their detonation should not damage power units but may create a picture of shelling from Ukraine,’ the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government issued guidelines to its citizens over what to do in the event of a nuclear disaster at the plant.
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov raised the spectre of a potentially ‘catastrophic’ provocation by the Ukrainian army at the nuclear plant, which is Europe’s largest but has its six reactors shut down.
‘The situation is quite tense. There is a great threat of sabotage by the Kyiv regime, which can be catastrophic in its consequences,’ Peskov said in response to a reporter’s question. He also claimed the Kremlin is taking ‘all measures’ to counter the alleged Ukrainian threat.
His comments came after Renat Karchaa, an advisor to Russian state nuclear company Rosenergoatom, said there was ‘no basis’ for Zelensky’s claims of a plot to simulate an explosion.
The Ukrainian leader made the allegation in his nightly video address on Tuesday.
‘Why would we need explosives there? This is nonsense, (aimed at) maintaining tension around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,’ Karchaa said.
Russian media on Tuesday cited Karchaa as saying that Ukraine’s military planned to strike the plant with ammunition laced with nuclear waste early Wednesday.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 47th Magura Separate Mechanised Brigade fire a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system towards Russian troops near a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine June 25
As of Wednesday afternoon, there was no indication of such an attack.
Ukraine has warned for months of Russian plans to cause a deliberate release of radiation from the plant, citing internal intelligence reports.
Ukrainian officials have alleged that Moscow might try to sabotage the plant in an attempt to derail Kyiv’s ongoing counteroffensive in the surrounding region.
Russia occupied the plant in the early stages of the war. Over the past year, Russia and Ukraine repeatedly accused each other of shelling the facility.
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