• Russian troops seized Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe. 

• Russia’s attack on a nuclear power plant has revived the fears of people across Europe who remember the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed at least 30 people and spewed radioactive fallout over much of the Northern Hemisphere.

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was undamaged and that only one reactor was working, at around 60 per cent of capacity.

• The IAEA is the international, authoritative technical nuclear agency capable of providing the adequate technical assistance to help ensure the safe and secure operation of nuclear facilities.

• Even before the attack, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had heightened concerns about the vulnerability of the nuclear reactors that provide about 50 per cent of the country’s electricity. 

Nuclear reactors in Ukraine

• Ukraine’s nuclear power industry began in the 1970s, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. It now has 15 reactors at four power plants around the country. Two more reactors are under construction and the four at Chernobyl have been shut down.

• Together the reactors generate about half of the country’s electricity. That share is expected to grow until at least 2035, because Ukraine sees nuclear power as the most cost-effective source of low-carbon energy.

• Ukraine’s reactors are located in four separate plants. All 15 are water-water energy reactors, which means they are water cooled and water moderated.

• The plants generated some 13,107 gigawatt electrical (GWe) in 2020, the third largest amount of nuclear generated power in Europe after Russia (27,653 GWe) and France (61,370 GWe).

• They are all operated by a state company — Energoatom.

• Energoatom has spent millions of dollars in recent years to implement safety modernisations at all plants.

Where are the plants located?

• Four reactors are clustered in the Rivne plant, in northwest Ukraine near the Belarus border, and two are in the Khmelnitski plant, some 180 km  southeast of the Rivne site. 

• Three reactors are in the South Ukraine plant, some 170 km to the north of the port city of Odessa. 

• The remaining six reactors operate in the giant Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

• Of the plant’s reactor units, Unit 1 is shut down for maintenance, Units 2 and 3 have undergone a controlled shut down, Unit 4 is operating at 60 per cent power and Units 5 and 6 are being held “in reserve” in low power mode.

• The power plant is of strategic importance to Russia because it is only about 200 km from Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

What about Chernobyl?

• The now defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant sits some 108 km north of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. One of its four reactors exploded in 1986, spewing clouds of radiation across Europe. The site is still radioactive and a huge protective dome covers the destroyed reactor. The area was seized by Russian forces on February 24.

• Zaporizhzhia plant is much safer than Chernobyl because the reactor is housed inside a reinforced concrete containment building designed to prevent radioactive material from escaping in the event of an accident. Chernobyl didn’t have this kind of structure.

Seven pillars of nuclear safety and security:

• The physical integrity of the facilities – whether it is the reactors, fuel ponds, or radioactive waste stores – must be maintained.

• All safety and security systems and equipment must be fully functional at all times.

• The operating staff must be able to fulfil their safety and security duties and have the capacity to make decisions free of undue pressure.

• There must be secure off-site power supply from the grid for all nuclear sites.

• There must be uninterrupted logistical supply chains and transportation to and from the sites.

• There must be effective on-site and off-site radiation monitoring systems and emergency preparedness and response measures. 

• There must be reliable communications with the regulator and others.

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