The Russian occupation of Chernobyl at the beginning of the war was “very, very dangerous”. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, tells of a foiled but still feared risk that has kept half the world in suspense for weeks. Now the power plant and its reactors are under control again, the radioactivity is “normal”, is the reassurance that is etched in one’s memory on the anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe. On April 26, 1986, there were at least 30 deaths, followed by thousands of casualties over the years from illnesses related to the accident. Just inciting still generates fear and terror, and when Moscow took control of it at the start of the war with Ukraine, the red alert went off immediately. Now the danger seems averted, the Russian soldiers are still bearing the consequences of the occupation: They dug trenches with their bare hands in heavily contaminated land, breathed in poisonous air and even if they are treated for many, there is no escape.
Meanwhile, the world is trying to strengthen the control system to avoid the worst. Providing equipment, conducting radiological assessments and restoring backup surveillance systems is the goal of the mission, which took the heads of the international agency to the Ukraine-Belarus border. The organization explains that the aim is to provide “help” to Kyiv and hope that this will create a sufficient safety net to avoid errors in the system. In Ukraine there are 15 operational reactors at four different nuclear power plants, including that of Zaporizhia. But just today, two Russian rockets flew low over the power plant site: a huge risk, because if they hit the plants, there would be a new “nuclear catastrophe,” warns the operator, who manages the plant on behalf of the Ukrainian government.
Russia’s capture of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has brought the world to the brink of disaster. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is convinced of that. “The world was once again on the brink of catastrophe, because for the Russian army the Chernobyl area and the power plant were like a normal battlefield, a territory where they didn’t even try to worry about nuclear safety,” Zelenskyy said during a speech press conference with the head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi.
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