Russia has captured the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The International Atomic Energy Agency is now concerned.
Kiev/Moscow – In view of the Russian conquest of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine*, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is alarmed. Chernobyl is about 70 kilometers from the capital Kiev. “It is impossible to say whether the power plant is safe,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak on Thursday evening. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi called the attack on Chernobyl “a declaration of war on all of Europe.”
Because of the potential risk of accidents, the IAEA is following the situation in Ukraine “with great concern,” the UN organization said. She called for “a maximum of restraint” from everyone involved. An unsecured nuclear facility harbors great danger. In addition, the question arises as to what Russia* wants to achieve by conquering the nuclear power plant. According to Podoljak, this development in the Ukraine conflict* “represents one of the most serious threats to Europe.”
Ukraine conflict: Russia seizes nuclear reactor
The Russian military seized the destroyed nuclear reactor in northern Ukraine after “bitter” fighting with Ukrainian forces, as Podoliak said. The condition of the old reactor system, the protective cover over the highly radioactive accident reactor and the storage facility for nuclear fuel is not known. The Chernobyl reactor catastrophe in April 1986 was the worst nuclear accident in the world; 36 years later, the area is still radioactively contaminated for a wide area.
Even if the motives of Russian President Vladimir Putin* are not known at the current time, there are several attempts at explanations. The declared target of Putin’s attacks is the capital Kiev. Chernobyl could serve as an intermediate target because it is close to the border with Belarus, from where Russian troops launched their attack. “It’s the shortest way from A to B,” says James Acton of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace of the Tagesschau. The capture of Chernobyl is not militarily decisive in itself, but it makes it easier for Russian troops to march on Kiev, Jack Keane, a former US Army general, told Tagesschau.
According to observers, it is also possible that Putin wants to send a threat to the West with the conquest. The United States expressed concern. Taking the exclusion zone of the former reactor and the employees there is a “hostage situation,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Thursday in Washington. “This unlawful and dangerous hostage situation, which could suspend routine conservation and safety operations at the nuclear waste facilities, is incredibly alarming and of great concern,” Psaki said.
War in Ukraine: Radiation levels around Chernobyl increase
After the capture of Chernobyl, the radiation exposure at the site of the decommissioned nuclear power plant is said to increase. “Radiation is starting to rise. She is not critical for Kyiv for the time being, but we are watching her,” Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Friday, Reuters reports.
Experts from the state nuclear agency did not provide specific information on the radiation levels, but said the change was due to the movement of heavy military equipment in the area, which blows radioactive dust into the air. The US news agency AP reports that the Russian shelling hit a radioactive waste storage facility, according to an official. An attack on the waste storage facility could send radioactive particles across European Union territories, an Interior Ministry adviser warned in Ukrainian media. (sne with AFP/dpa) *fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
