Where is Zaporizhzhia, and why is the plant important?

Ukraine has 15 functional nuclear reactors, which together supplied 51 percent of its electricity in 2020, according to the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. Kyiv has relied on nuclear power to avoid energy dependence on Russia, which controls some of the world’s largest oil and gas reserves. Six of those reactors are at the Zaporizhzhia plant, on the edge of Enerhodar, a city in southeastern Ukraine. The sprawling facility — the largest of its kind in Europe — is located on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, in an area controlled by Russia. Ukrainian forces control the opposite side of the river. Zaporizhzhia’s reactors began operating between 1984 and 1995. Together, they can produce 5,700 megawatts of electricity at full capacity. The plant is a major source of nuclear power for Ukraine: Before the war, it produced one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity and nearly half of its nuclear energy.

What’s happened to the plant under Russian occupation?

Russian forces seized the plant in early March, soon after the invasion, and set part of the complex on fire with one of their projectiles. The incident raised global alarm and the IAEA, which continued to monitor the plant remotely, urged Russia and Ukraine to allow inspectors at the site. In June, the agency said that it recorded sporadic interruptions in data transmission from Zaporizhzhia, where safeguard surveillance systems were installed before the war to detect the misuse of nuclear material or technology. Over the summer, the battles between Russian forces, which control the plant, and Ukrainian troops intensified in the area. In recent weeks, frequent shelling around the facility added urgency to the IAEA’s efforts to reach Zaporizhzhia. The inspectors finally arrived on Sep. 1 after weeks of negotiations. The team inspected Zaporizhzhia, interviewed the site’s Ukrainian workers and announced a two-man permanent monitoring mission. Russian forces control the plant but it is staffed and managed mostly by Ukrainians, who have maintained operations under difficult conditions , the IAEA said. In a report Tuesday, the IAEA said that staff at the facility are “subject to constant high stress and pressure,” which “could lead to increased human error with implications for nuclear safety.” Just one of Zaporizhzhia’s six reactors is still supplying power to the Ukrainian grid. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking the site. In early August, the two sides traded blame for shelling at Zaporizhzhia that damaged parts of the plant . Zelensky has called for the IAEA to take “permanent control” of the plant. But Russia has rejected calls, including from the United Nations, to create a demilitarized zone there, arguing that Russian troops provide a “guarantee” that a nuclear disaster would not occur.

What’s the worst that could happen?

The chief concern, of course, is a nuclear meltdown. Meltdowns occur when fuel in a reactor isn’t adequately cooled. The uranium in the fuel rods melts and, if there are leaks in the building, can cause radioactive material to be released into the environment. An IAEA delegation that visited Zaporizhzhia in early September documented damages to facilities, including one that houses the solid radioactive waste storage facility. The building containing the plant’s central alarm station was also damaged, the report said. Radiation is a major health and environmental danger: It is impossible to see or smell but can remain a silent threat for years, leading to cancer and other health problems, experts say. The prospect of a nuclear accident holds particular resonance in Ukraine, the site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster that led to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents and sent radioactive material across Europe. A similar disaster at Zaporizhzhia could spread radioactive material across much of Ukraine and possibly to other countries, according to a simulation by Ukraine’s national weather service. The European Union said it would send 5 million potassium iodide tablets to Zaporizhzhia at Kyiv’s request in case local residents get exposed to radiation. “Any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said last month. Grossi told the AP on Aug. 3 that each of the seven pillars of nuclear safety had been violated at the plant. In early September, the IAEA said the plant was understaffed, had suffered damages to its nuclear facilities from shelling and was at higher risk of disaster due to the presence of Russian troops. According to James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the reactors at Zaporizhzhia are protected by reinforced concrete shells, and a direct munitions hit on a reactor remains unlikely. The biggest risk, he said, comes from fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces that cuts off the plant’s electricity supply. Nuclear plants rely on electricity to keep cool — and Ukraine bolstered safety measures at its facilities after the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan in 2011 The new system was tested in late August when Zaporizhzhia lost its connection to the power grid at least twice, according to Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the shelling that damaged the transmission network. The plant’s diesel generators kicked in to sustain critical operations, Zelensky said in a speech on Aug. 25, staving off catastrophe. Although the generators can still function and have enough fuel to keep them running for 10 days in emergencies, the delivery of diesel to the site has been “complicated” by the ongoing fighting, the IAEA said Tuesday. In peacetime, the likelihood of all of the cooling systems failing “would be very low,” Acton said. “But in wartime, you could plausibly imagine a series of events that causes a major accident.” “Nuclear power plants are simply not designed to be in war zones,” he said. Adela Suliman, John Hudson and Andrew Jeong contributed to this report.

World

What to know about Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

By Claire Parker

and

Erin Cunningham

Updated September 6, 2022 at 4:21 p.m. EDT|Published August 20, 2022 at 1:04 p.m. EDT

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine on Aug. 19. (AP)

Rocket and mortar attacks near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine have raised fears of a potential radioactive disaster there for weeks, prompting world leaders and even Pope Francis to plead for calm.

Russian forces control the plant, which is connected to Ukraine’s power grid. But frequent blackouts have fueled concerns about a possible nuclear meltdown.

“Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 28.

Moscow and Kyiv have each blamed the other for the deteriorating conditions at Zaporizhzhia, the largest facility of its kind in Europe. But in a potential sign of progress, a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency was allowed access to the site on Sep. 1.

Now, at least two IAEA inspectors will establish a “permanent presence” at Zaporizhzhia to monitor the plant’s safeguard mechanisms, even as the war continues to rage nearby. On Tuesday, the agency released its first report on the situation at Zaporizhzhia ahead of a United Nations Security Council meeting, warning that ongoing shelling in the area represents “a constant threat to nuclear safety and security... that may lead to radiological consequences.”

U.N. nuclear agency heads to Zaporizhzhia as attacks raise fear of disaster

Global anxiety over the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continues to mount as Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of firing at the site. (Video: The Washington Post)

Warnings of attack on Ukraine nuclear plant set the world on edge

Here’s what to know about the Zaporizhzhia plant and the risks of fighting there: