The accident at Zaporizhzhia NPP could be a disaster for Ukraine, but not for Europe, – Politico ,
Zaporizhzhia NPP .
KYIV. UkraineGate . 12. August . 2022 l Society.
Reports of the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine have once again raised fears of a nuclear disaster, but experts remain confident that the risk of a cataclysm similar to Chernobyl is low. Writes about it Politiko a.
Details
According to experts, the consequences of Russian shelling in the worst-case scenarios will affect only residents of Ukraine who live within a radius of 30 km around the station.
This is due to the 10-meter concrete walls that protect the reactors. Only a flurry of targeted bombing can break through such protection.
A blow to nuclear fuel storage sites will also not be very effective, since the release of radioactive materials will spread only within a radius of 10-20 km.
Recall
On August 5, the invaders, using rocket and artillery weapons, shelled the territory of a nuclear power facility located in the temporarily occupied Enerhodar. The nitrogen-oxygen station and the joint auxiliary building of the Zaporizhzhia NPP were damaged.
On August 3, the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) estimated that Russian troops likely used the power plant to “play on Western fears of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine in order to reduce the West’s will to provide military support for ukraine’s counteroffensive.”
Isw also said Russia was “effectively using the plant as a nuclear shield to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian forces and equipment.”
The United States supported calls for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Source: Ukrgate
