Worry, always. On Saturday August 27, the operator of Ukrainian nuclear power plants Energoatom warned that the Zaporijjia power plant was now operating with the risk of radioactive leaks and fire, following bombings of which Ukrainians and Russians have been accusing each other for several weeks.
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Russian troops shelled the site”several times in the last day“, affirmed the Ukrainian national company, before specifying: “As a result of periodic bombardments, the infrastructure of the plant has been damaged and there are risks of hydrogen leakage and spraying of radioactive substances“, speaking of”high fire risk“.
The question is important: can these bombings around the largest nuclear power plant in Europe really lead to a nuclear accident? On this point, the specialists agree: in the event of an accident, it will undoubtedly not be in the sense of a major drama of the Chernobyl or Fukushima type. The Zaporizhia reactors are indeed bombproof, protected by a concrete containment two meters thick.
There is, however, right next to these reactors a warehouse where spent fuel is stored: the uranium that was used to operate these reactors. This is still radioactive and above all these fuels are not sheltered by a confinement enclosure but stored in a much less solid building. One can perfectly imagine that a shell pierces the walls or the roof and comes to explode in the middle of these fuels. The result would then be the formation of a cloud of dust – radioactive – escaping into the atmosphere, falling fairly quickly but still contaminating the surrounding area for at least a few hundred meters.
What would then be the equivalent of a “dirty bomb” risks triggering a panic among the inhabitants of There would be enough to trigger a great panic in the town of Enerhodar, adjoining the plant. During the bombardment, some of the shells fell within 20 meters of the spent fuel warehouse.
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The town hall of Zaporizhia has indicated that since August 23 it has been distributing iodine tablets to residents within a radius of 50 km around the plant, in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Health, while stressing that no anomaly had been detected. for now and that iodine should only be taken in the event of a radiation alert. This does not really reassure the inhabitants of the region.
Like Olena, an employee of the plant who no longer works there since the Russian troops occupy it. She thus affirms to franceinfo that the authorities enerhodar have already taken preventive measures: “The mayor of the city has personally delivered 25,000 iodine tablets so that people who are concerned can go to their family doctor and get these pills just in case… It is strictly forbidden to take them now. This is so that people can be reassured, because they are very worried, and so that they have these tablets at home.“
Faced with the nuclear risk, the International Atomic Energy Agency is still demanding to be able to access the plant site as quickly as possible. According to the adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Energy, IAEA experts are expected on site in early September.