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Every nuclear reactor is a balancing act, where the fuel rods are carefully kept close enough to generate the heat needed to generate electricity, while being constantly monitored to prevent overheating, which would melt the fuel. This requires continuous cooling and trained staff. The reactor itself is encased in a steel shell and a heavy layer of concrete, specially designed to withstand projectiles and plane crashes, and meant to contain molten fuel in the event of a disaster. The Chornobyl reactor does not have this level of protection, which results in the release of radioactive material into the air.
Ukraine has four operational nuclear facilities, including Zaporizhzhia, according to the IAEA’s Power Reactor Information System database. According to Joshua Pollack of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, there are at least two scenarios that worry experts about nuclear power plants becoming a war zone:
• When the reactor is very difficult, the pools, containing spent-but-still-hot fuel rods, do not. If the cooling pool is damaged and unusable, the water will eventually boil, and this fuel rod will burn, and radioactive particles will shoot into the sky. This was a major problem during the Fukushima disaster.
• If the reactor shuts down, loses access to external power, and then loses backup power, the coolant inside the reactor itself stops flowing. Soon, the fuel burns inside the reactor and releases hydrogen gas. “As we learned in Fukushima, this is quite dangerous,” Pollack said. In the disaster, a hydrogen explosion blew off the roof of the reactor building. That led to the release of radioactive gas and a massive evacuation.
There appear to be at least three explanations for Russian forces attacking Zaporizhzhia at this point during last week’s invasion of Ukraine, said Melissa Hanham, an open-source intelligence specialist associated with the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. First only in the fog of war, Russian invasion forces took over every facility on the way, which led to a firefight in the plant. The second is a deliberate bid to control a high-risk site, similar to the takeover of Chornobyl at the start of the invasion. The IAEA has complained about staff at Chornobyl not having the relief to oversee operations there. A third explanation suggested by Ukrainian officials is that Russia intended to control and cut off electricity to the country as part of an invasion plan.
“If it’s under Russian control, you’re going to get some confidence-building by allowing the IAEA to have regular access and communication with whoever is running it, possibly Ukrainian staff,” Hanham said.
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