Russia plays dangerous game with Ukrainian nuclear power plants

By Galina Korol | 2024-11-13

KYIV -- Russia continues to attack Ukraine with drones and missiles, not only terrorizing the civilian population but also threatening the nation's nuclear power plants.

"The enemy deliberately violates the principles of nuclear and radiation safety of nuclear power plants, resorting to open terrorism," said Energoatom director Petro Kotin on the Ukrainian company's website on October 28.

Kotin was referring to an event that occurred at about 6am of the same day, when a Russian Shahed drone flew critically close to one of the power units of the Khmelnytskyi power plant.

"This must be stopped as soon as possible, because the consequences can be felt by the entire continent," he added.

The attack is just the latest to risk a nuclear accident.

On August 26, Russian forces launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine's critical infrastructure and energy sector, aiming to paralyze Ukrainian power-generating facilities.

That strike caused workers to shut down four power units at two Ukrainian nuclear power plants, according to a letter sent by Ukrainian authorities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on August 28.

"As a result of the attack at 08:58, power units 1, 3, and 4 of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant were disconnected from the grid. At 09:05, the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant units' power was decreased to a total level of 1,800 MW," reads the communiqué from the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the IAEA.

"Due to fluctuations in the national power grid caused by Russia's attack, at 17:10 ... power unit 3 of the South Ukraine NPP [nuclear power plant] was disconnected from the grid."

'A real nuclear crisis'

Before Russia's invasion, Ukraine operated four nuclear power plants -- the Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, South Ukraine and the Zaporizhzhia.

The Zaporizhzhia power station is currently under Russian occupation.

"This [the disregard for the safety of nuclear power plants] is what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin continues to play with," Yuriy Kostenko, former Ukrainian minister of environmental protection and nuclear safety (1995–1998), told Kontur.

"Russian cruise missiles are known to be inaccurate not only in hitting targets but also in falling where they should not fall," said Kostenko.

"And as a former minister of nuclear safety, I can't rule out that a real nuclear crisis could arise," he said, noting that Russia's intention is to bomb not the power plants themselves but the transformer substations.

The type of blackout seen in August is precisely the type that Kostenko says could lead to a nuclear catastrophe.

"A power plant that cannot produce electricity cannot provide itself with electricity to pump water and cool a nuclear facility," he said.

"The result could be a scenario like the one we saw in Japan at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 after a tsunami destroyed the reactor cooling system -- and those reactors eventually exploded."

Kostenko's fears have been corroborated by Ukrainian officials.

Russia has been preparing strikes on critical nuclear power facilities on the eve of winter, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

"In particular, we are talking about the exposed switchgears of nuclear power plants and the transmission substations critical for the nuclear power sector to operate safely," Sybiha wrote on X, citing Ukrainian intelligence, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on September 21.

"The destruction of these facilities creates a high risk of a nuclear incident that will have global consequences."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also accused Russia of targeting nuclear power plants.

"We are now approaching the third winter of this war, and Russia is once again trying to destroy our power system," Zelenskyy said during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, RFE/RL reported September 24.

"This time they are even more cynical. They have prepared to target our nuclear power plants. We have this information and evidence," he said.

'Now it's even scarier'

The threat of nuclear disaster has been especially felt by those who live nearby the plants.

"Every day I think, at least let it not be a nuclear power plant. To be honest, we didn't feel completely safe near it in peacetime, and now it's even scarier," said Natalia Shama, a resident of Volodymyrets, a village in Rivne province.

She and her family live within 30km of the Rivne nuclear power plant in Varash city.

"It's scary to predict what the consequences would be if, God forbid, an enemy missile either hits a reactor or ... damages something at the power plant."

"Personally, I'm afraid to even think of it. This tragedy could be fatal for more than just Ukraine," Shama told Kontur.

Nuclear disasters "are a real threat not only to Ukraine but also to Europe and Russia itself," said Kostenko, who cited the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.

"No one can predict which way the wind will blow. This was the case with Chernobyl ... The wind initially carried large amounts of pollution to Smolensk province, Russia [a claim that Russia has never confirmed], and to Belarus, and only later did the radioactive cloud turn back to Ukraine," he said.