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'Mad Panic' Near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Leads IAEA to Sound Alarm
The situation is 'becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous'
May 07, 2023
The situation Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has taken a turn for the worse as Russia has begun evacuating 18 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region, including Enerhodar.
The BBC has cited as Ukrainian official as saying this has sparked a "mad panic" - and traffic jams have been observed as thousands of people pack up and head out of the city.
The exiled mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram that shops in the evacuated areas had run out of goods and medicine. He also said hospitals were discharging patients into the street amid fears that electricity and water supplies could be suspended.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) experts still at the plant site are continuing to hear shelling on a regular basis, including Friday night. Ukrainian authorities on Sunday said that a 72-year-old woman was killed and three others were wounded when Russian forces fired more than 30 shells at Nikopol, a Ukrainian-held town neighboring the nuclear plant.
The situation is “becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Saturday.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement :
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous."
"I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant."
"We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment. This major nuclear facility must be protected."
"I will continue to press for a commitment by all sides to achieve this vital objective, and the IAEA will continue to do everything it can to help ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant,” he said.
The expected Ukrainian spring counter-offensive is viewed as likely to take in the Zaporizhzhia region, around 80% of which is controlled by Russian forces.
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'One Day Our Luck Will Run Out,' Warns IAEA Chief Over Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
"What are we doing? How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said following a massive Russian attack on Ukraine.
Mar 09, 2023
The largest nuclear energy plant in Europe, located in southern Ukraine, lost all off-site power for the sixth time in a year as Russian forces carried out a massive missile attack on Thursday, once again raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe with continent-wide implications.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, expressed dismay over the repeated near-misses at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and said he is "astonished by the complacency" in the face of such a threat.
"What are we doing? How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on," Grossi said in a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors. "Each time we are rolling a dice. And if we allow this to continue time after time then one day our luck will run out. I call on everyone in this room today and elsewhere—we must commit to protect the safety and security of the plant. And we need to commit now."
Grossi noted that Thursday marked the first time since November that the nuclear plant has lost all off-site power, sparking the activation of emergency diesel generators. The IAEA chief said there is enough diesel at the facility to power it for just over two weeks.
A constant supply of power to the plant is necessary to prevent a nuclear meltdown.
"This is the sixth time—let me say it again, this is the sixth time—that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has lost all off-site power and has had to operate in this emergency mode," Grossi said. "Let me remind you—this is the largest nuclear power station in Europe."
Rafael Mariano Grossi
Russian forces currently control the nuclear facility, which IAEA inspectors visited in September following months of grave safety concerns.
In the wake of the trip, the United Nations agency issued a report warning that "any further escalation affecting the six-reactor plant could lead to a severe nuclear accident with potentially grave radiological consequences for human health and the environment in Ukraine and elsewhere."
Last March, Greenpeace released an analysis similarly cautioning that a Zaporizhzhia disaster could "render vast areas of the European continent, including Russia, uninhabitable for decades."
Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear energy operator, told the Associated Press on Thursday that the power supply to Zaporizhzhia can be restored "within a day or two" and that emergency fixes to a disconnected power line are underway.
Energoatom has accused the Russian forces occupying the plant of compromising its physical integrity. Citing the nuclear energy firm, The New York Times reported earlier this week that "Russian soldiers have recently set up machine guns on the grounds of the plant, placed military equipment in engine rooms, covered windows with sandbags, and even carried out indoor welding work that has set off fire alarms."
"Those actions come on top of damage from shelling last summer, including to an area where spent nuclear fuel is stored; disruptions to the plant's management in power struggles with Russian occupiers; and the shutdown of the complex's six reactors," the Times noted.
During Thursday's barrage, Russia reportedly launched more than 80 missiles in the direction of Ukrainian cities—dozens of which were intercepted, according to Ukrainian officials.
AP reported that "the Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes were in retaliation for a recent incursion into the Bryansk region of western Russia by what Moscow claimed were Ukrainian saboteurs. Ukraine denied the claim and warned that Moscow could use the allegations to justify stepping up its own assaults."
The bombardment came as the prospect of a diplomatic resolution to the war in the near future appeared virtually nonexistent after more than a year of deadly fighting, with Russia continuing its assault on Ukraine while western governments—principally the United States—continue to pump weapons into the war zone.
"Let there be no doubt: Putin should immediately stop this insanity in Ukraine," The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill wrote in a column last week. "This is a gruesome and murderous campaign he's engaged in, and the death toll is shocking. The Biden administration should do what we are constantly told is untenable, unrealistic, or characterized as appeasement: make a negotiated end to the war the top priority."
"It's a reasonable position for people watching this bloodbath to want to do everything possible to help Ukrainians defend themselves, and supporting weapons transfers to Ukraine does not make you a pawn of the U.S. imperial state," Scahill continued. "But the argument over whether the U.S. and NATO should be giving military aid is a trap because it's presented as a binary choice. What has our government done to seek alternative paths? Has it exhausted all diplomatic efforts?"
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'Playing With Fire': IAEA Issues Urgent Warning After Visit to Ukraine Nuclear Plant
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres endorsed the nuclear watchdog's new report, warning that any damage "to Zaporizhzhia—or to any other nuclear facility in Ukraine—could spell catastrophe."
Sep 07, 2022
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Tuesday that "something very, very catastrophic could take place" if shelling persists at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the subject of a new report issued by United Nations inspectors who visited the facility last week.
"The hits that this facility has received and that I could personally see and assess together with my experts is simply unacceptable," said IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi. "We are playing with fire."
The IAEA report published on Tuesday lays out specific recommendations to address what Grossi, who led a 14-member team from the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog to Zaporizhzhia last week, has called the "seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security in Ukraine."
Although the first pillar calls for not violating the physical integrity of nuclear facilities, "this happened, and continues to happen," Grossi told the U.N. Security Council, of which Russia is one of five permanent members with veto power, on Tuesday.
As the U.N. summarized:
The report proposes setting up a nuclear safety and security protection zone that would be limited to the perimeter and the plant itself.
Other recommendations call for removing all military vehicles and equipment from nuclear buildings at the site and ensuring the return to clear and routine responsibilities for staff, in addition to re-establishing an "appropriate" work environment.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday endorsed the recommendations outlined in the IAEA report, reiterating his call for Russian and Ukrainian forces to cease fighting near Zaporizhzhia--where repeated shelling in recent weeks has sparked fears of a far-reaching disaster--and for the creation of a demilitarized perimeter around the facility.
"Any damage, whether intentional or not, to Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia--or to any other nuclear facility in Ukraine--could spell catastrophe, not only for the immediate vicinity, but for the region and beyond," said Guterres. "All steps must be taken to avoid such a scenario."
"Common sense and cooperation must guide the way forward," Guterres continued. "Any action that might endanger the physical integrity, safety, or security of the nuclear plant is unacceptable."
"As a first step, Russian and Ukrainian forces must commit not to engage in any military activity towards the plant site or from the plant site," said the U.N. chief. "The Zaporizhzhia facility and its surroundings must not be a target or a platform for military operations."
"As a second step, an agreement on a demilitarized perimeter should be secured," he added. "Specifically, that would include a commitment by Russian forces to withdraw all military personnel and equipment from that perimeter and a commitment by Ukrainian forces not to move into it."
In addition, "operators at the plant must be able to carry out their responsibilities, and communications must be maintained," said Guterres. "Now is the time to urgently agree on concrete measures to ensure the safety of the area."
A pair of IAEA inspectors will remain stationed indefinitely at Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian technicians have been working under the control of Russian soldiers since March.
"I trust that the IAEA experts now deployed to Zaporizhzhia will be able to carry out their work without hindrance and contribute to ensuring lasting nuclear safety and security in the plan," said Guterres. "All of us have a stake in the success of their critical mission."
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Operator Fears 'Sputtering of Radioactive Substances' at Ukraine Nuclear Plant
"As a result of periodic shelling, the infrastructure of the station has been damaged," Energoatom said in a statement.
Aug 27, 2022
Ukraine's state-run energy operator warned Saturday that "there are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances" from the country's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as shelling in the Russian-occupied area continues, despite international pleas for a ceasefire.
"As a result of periodic shelling, the infrastructure of the station has been damaged," Energoatom said in a statement, cautioning that "the fire hazard is high" and that the plant "operates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards."
The firm's statement came two days after fire damage disconnected the massive nuclear complex from Ukraine's power grid for the first time in the facility's history, heightening fears of a Chernobyl-like disaster.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of imperiling the structural integrity and day-to-day operations of the plant, which Russia seized in the early days of the invasion. Ukrainian workers are still running the plant under the watch of Russian forces.
Rising concerns of a catastrophe at the largest nuclear energy plant in Europe have added fresh urgency to negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to allow International Atomic Energy inspectors to safely examine the facility as the devastating war rages on with no end in sight.
The New York Times reported Saturday that "Russia had given its approval to the inspection team and indicated that it had acceded to Ukraine's demand that the mission originate in territory it controls rather than in Russian-occupied land."
"A list of the team's members seen by The New York Times includes the nuclear agency's chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina, and 13 other experts from mostly neutral countries," according to the newspaper. "Neither the United States nor Britain, countries that Russia scorns as unfairly biased because of their strong support for Ukraine, is represented."
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In Ukraine, Nuclear Catastrophe Looms
Instead of focusing on who is to blame for creating this dire situation, Ukraine, Russia, and the international community need to work together to figure out how to stem the danger of a strike on Zaporizhzhia or its supporting safety systems.
Aug 14, 2022
The United Nations' top nuclear official this week warned about the "very alarming" military activity surrounding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility just across the Dnipro River from the southern city of Nikopol. Russian forces seized control of the site--the largest nuclear plant in Europe--in March and are accused of using it as a shield and a base to launch rocket attacks.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, last week called the situation "completely out of control" and is now urging both Ukraine and Russia to halt any fighting near the facility that has "even the smallest potential to jeopardize nuclear safety."
Indeed, the continued fighting and shelling surrounding Zaporizhzhia risks sparking a nuclear disaster that could impact thousands of Ukrainians and Russians through displacement and radiation dangers that will have health impacts for years or decades to come.
Ukraine and Russia must reach an agreement now that permits international inspectors onto the site to ensure its stability and security, and, ideally, creates a "safe zone" around the perimeter to prevent attacks that come close to the reactors or their safety systems.
Instead of focusing on who is to blame for creating this dire situation, Ukraine, Russia, and the international community need to work together to figure out how to stem the danger of a strike on the plant or its supporting safety systems. So long as this war continues, risks of catastrophic actions, accidents, and escalations will remain, and will threaten people on both sides of the war's continually shifting lines between Russia and Ukraine.
This crisis further underscores the vital importance of diplomacy --even, and perhaps especially, at a time of intense fighting in Ukraine. The United States will play a central role in any eventual peace settlement, and bringing about such an agreement should be a top priority for U.S. officials.
The alternative is the continuation of a lengthy, volatile war that risks additional, massive suffering and possible escalation into a direct U.S.-Russia or NATO-Russia conflict, with all the dangers that entails.
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UN Chief Denounces Shelling of Ukraine Nuclear Plant as 'Suicidal'
To avert a public health calamity, Ukrainian officials are calling for the Zaporizhzhia site to be demilitarized and run by a team of peacekeepers.
Aug 08, 2022
Global concerns about the possibility of a nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia power station in southeastern Ukraine continued on Monday, with officials from Kyiv calling for the creation of a demilitarized zone around the site and the head of the United Nations condemning the latest shelling there.
"Any attack [on] a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a press conference in Japan.
The Zaporizhzhia complex, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world, was hit by shelling over the weekend, eliciting grave warnings about ongoing threats to public health and the environment "in Ukraine and beyond" from International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi, who said there is substantial risk for a calamity worse than Chernobyl.
Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame for recent strikes on the site, which is located in a region that Russia took over in March and that Ukraine is trying to recover. According to Ukrainian officials, Russian soldiers damaged three radiation sensors and hurt two workers amid renewed shelling at the plant on Friday and Saturday. Russian authorities, by contrast, alleged that "Ukrainian nationalists" damaged two high-voltage power lines, necessitating a reduction in output to "prevent disruption."
Guterres on Monday stressed that international nuclear inspectors need immediate access to the facility, which is still being operated by Ukrainian technicians.
"We fully support the IAEA in all their efforts in relation to create the conditions of stabilization of the plant," said the U.N. chief.
Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Ukraine's ambassador to the IAEA, demanded a U.N.-led international mission to Zaporizhzhia by the end of the month and accused Russia of targeting the site in an attempt to cause blackouts along Ukraine's electricity grid in the south.
"We will use all possible channels of diplomacy to bring the IAEA and U.N. closer to conducting this mission," Tsymbaliuk told reporters in Vienna, home to the world's nuclear watchdog organization. "We really need it urgently, as soon as possible."
Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, Ukraine's state-owned nuclear power enterprise, made the case for demilitarizing Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding area and called for the deployment of a peacekeeping team to the site.
"The decision that we demand from the world community and all our partners... is to withdraw the invaders from the territory of the station and create a demilitarized zone on the territory of the station," Kotin said on television.
"The presence of peacekeepers in this zone and the transfer of control of it to them, and then also control of the station to the Ukrainian side would resolve this problem," he said.
If missiles were to break two or more containers holding highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel, Kotin emphasized, "it is impossible to assess the scale of this catastrophe."
Guterres' Monday remarks came just two days after he warned that "humanity is playing with a loaded gun" during the Hiroshima peace memorial ceremony, which marked the 77th anniversary of the United States' atomic bombing of Japan--the first and only wartime use of nuclear weapons.
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Fears of Nuclear Disaster in Ukraine Bolster Push for Renewable Future
"Noting one small advantage of solar panels is that if you shell them, they break into chunks of glass."
Mar 04, 2022
While a fire at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been extinguished--and the complex reportedly seized by invading Russian forces--overnight fears of a major disaster fueled fresh calls for rapidly building a cleaner, safer global energy system.
"We are perched on the precipice of catastrophe."
"Part of the problem with nuclear energy is that its advocates kind of just pretend geopolitical conditions will stay stable, nobody will ever bomb it, war won't ever reach a nuke," said Stephen Leas of the Sunrise Movement's Baltimore chapter.
"It's crazy," added Leas, whose U.S.-based, youth-led movement advocates for combating the fossil-fueled climate emergency while creating millions of good jobs. "If solar or wind power gets bombed, that's really bad, but nukes are another level [of] risk."
American author and climate activist Bill McKibben similarly tweeted: "Noting one small advantage of solar panels is that if you shell them, they break into chunks of glass."
A fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia facility after Russian shelling, according to Ukrainian officials. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Friday that while "the physical integrity of the plant has been compromised," no radioactive material has been released and the complex's monitoring system remains "fully functional."
During the blaze at the Zaporizhzhia complex, Beyond Nuclear pointed out that "fire is the biggest risk for core melt at a nuclear power plant."
"This is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe," the advocacy group added of the Ukrainian complex. "We are perched on the precipice of catastrophe."
Worries about a potential nuclear disaster, particularly in Zaporizhzhia, have mounted over the past week since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, home to the site of the infamous Chernobyl site, which Russia's forces took control of last week.
Greenpeace researchers raised alarm Wednesday that the invasion endangers Ukraine's 15 nuclear power reactors. Problems at the Zaporizhzhia complex, they said, could "render vast areas of the European continent, including Russia, uninhabitable for decades."
The Russian invasion has elevated concerns about the possible use of nuclear weapons and featured multiple allegations of war crimes--which is how the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on Friday described Russia's attack on the power plant.
University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole agreed, writing Friday for Informed Comment that "if the shelling of the nuclear plant was deliberate, it is a war crime" that "reminds us why we should rush to wind and solar."
Critics of Putin's war, including youth climate campaigners who took to the streets around the world Thursday, have also highlighted its connection to fossil fuels and argued that a shift to renewables is essential for not only the global climate but also world peace.
Gregory Jaczko--who led the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission before authoring Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator--advocated against nuclear power in a pair of tweets Wednesday, noting that "gobs of evidence show it cannot meet the challenge better than alternatives."
Putin's invasion--and the resulting near miss of a catastrophic nuclear disaster--come as yet another landmark scientific report showed this week that humanity must keep fossil fuels in the ground to ensure the planet remains habitable.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) has also warned of the necessity of a global transition to renewables in multiple publications over the past year.
The Guardian reports that the IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol, noted Friday how Russia's assault of Ukraine relates to the European energy system.
"Nobody is under any illusions anymore," he said. "Russia's use of its natural gas resources as an economic and political weapon shows Europe needs to act quickly to be ready to face considerable uncertainty over Russian gas supplies next winter."
Greenpeace U.K. chief scientist Doug Parr told the newspaper that "our dependence on gas is a problem, and warmer homes powered by renewables are the cheapest and quickest solution."
As Parr put it: "We need to insulate our homes, roll out heat pumps and renewable power to rapidly address Putin's grip on European gas markets, our sky-high energy bills, and the climate crisis unfolding before our eyes."
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Russia Accused of 'Nuclear Terror' After Fire at Zaporizhzhia Power Plant
"This is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe," said one nuclear non-proliferation group. "We are perched on the precipice of catastrophe."
Mar 04, 2022
Russian forces reportedly seized control of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant on Friday shortly after a fire broke out at the facility, intensifying global fears of a massive and unprecedented radioactive disaster.
"Fallout doesn't respect borders. This would be an international war crime by Putin."
The fire, which Ukrainian officials said was sparked by Russian shelling, was extinguished Friday morning, but concerns remained about the potential for a leak of radioactive material if operators at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are unable to safely cool power units at the site.
During a press conference Friday morning, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the blaze started after a "projectile" hit a building within the plant complex.
"The physical integrity of the plant has been compromised," said IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, who stressed that the safety systems of the six nuclear reactors at the site were not affected by the fire and that the plant's radiation monitoring infrastructure remains "fully functional."
As of yet, Grossi said, there has been no release of radioactive material. He added that as of Friday morning, a Ukrainian staff was still running the nuclear plant even after the Russian military took "effective control" of the site.
In a televised address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia's military forces of engaging in "nuclear terror" and called on the Russian people to "take to the streets and say that you want to live, you want to live on Earth without radioactive contamination."
"Radiation does not know where Russia is, radiation does not know where the borders of your country are," Zelenskyy said, echoing concerns that the release of radioactive material could impact huge swaths of Europe, potentially rendering them uninhabitable for decades.
The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, blamed "a Ukrainian sabotage group" for the fire at the Zaporizhzhia plant.
The world watched in horror overnight Friday as the Zaporizhzhia complex--the largest nuclear power facility in all of Europe--came under attack, a scenario that scientists and campaigners have been sounding alarms about since before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week.
"Fire is the biggest risk for core melt at a nuclear power plant. This is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe," the advocacy group Beyond Nuclear tweeted as reports of a blaze at the facility were confirmed. "We are perched on the precipice of catastrophe."
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) voiced similar fears, declaring that "Russia's horrifying attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could result in a nuclear disaster spanning hundreds of square miles in all directions."
"Fallout doesn't respect borders. This would be an international war crime by Putin that could result in incredible devastation," said Markey. "First responders and nuclear safety personnel must be allowed to immediately address the situation at Zaporizhzhia. If this disaster is allowed to worsen then Putin will be putting his own people and those in countries across Europe at terrible risk."
In a series of Twitter posts, Matthew Bunn, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and a co-principal investigator at the Project on Managing the Atom, denounced Russia's alleged shelling of the Zaporizhzhia complex as "shockingly reckless, and a violation of multiple agreements."
"The member states of the IAEA unanimously agreed years ago that attacking a nuclear power plant 'constitutes a violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Statute of the Agency,'" Bunn observed. "This shelling COULD cause a major radioactive release, but it's too soon to tell whether (a) that will happen, (b) that's what Russian forces intended, or (c) if it does happen, how big the release will be."
Among other significant risks, Bunn highlighted the possibility that continued shelling could endanger the facility's pools of spent nuclear fuel. Greenpeace International noted in an analysis earlier this week that, as of 2017, 855 tons of spent fuel were stored in the six pools at the Zaporizhzhia complex.
"If the fuel building was shattered by shelling, then any fission products released from the melted fuel could get out into the surrounding countryside," Bunn warned. "Shelling could also cause a water leak that could lead to fuel melting, even if the electricity stayed on."
"IF the fuel pool is really overstuffed with spent fuel, AND the hot fuel assemblies recently discharged from the reactor are stored next to each other (rather than interspersed throughout the pool) the fuel can get so hot it catches fire--that, plus a shattering of the building, is really the worst-case scenario," he added. "That could release a quantity of radioactivity even worse than Chernobyl, potentially."
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