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I have been following the Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Ukraine. A lot of damage has been done in and around the plant. There is great international concern that the Russians may do something stupid and release radiation that could spread across Europe. Now comes a report about possible problematic Russian actions at Zaporizhzhia that could lead to a nuclear disaster. I hope that it is not true.
There have been unconfirmed reports that Russian forces at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could be attempting to drain the cooling pond at the plant. They supposedly want to drain the cooling pond so they could conduct weapons searches. Dorfman said that this would be insane and warned of disaster if the Russian forces carried out their plan. He added that “Draining spent nuclear fuel ponds would be utter madness, as cascading problems could lead to very significant radioactive release - and depending on which way the wind is blowing, the radioactive pollution could either go to Europe or Russia.”
Dorfman’s comments followed unconfirmed reports that a Ukrainian diver at Zaporizhzhia had died after being beaten by Russian soldiers because he refused to enter the cooling pool. This story was reported by the Kyiv Independent with quotes from the Mayor of Enerhodar. The title of the Independent story was Russian forces torture diver at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to death.
“Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov reported on July 3 that Andrii Honcharuk died in hospital after he was brutally beaten by Russian forces for refusing to dive into [a] pool at the plant.”
Dr. Dorfman said that it was obvious that the Ukrainian staff at the nuclear power plant were working “under duress”. He continued, “The fact is, one significant wrong step, one incident will change everything, irrevocably. Both for Ukraine and also for the global nuclear project. Even [the] Nuclear Energy Agency admits profoundly limited real-time information about what's really happening on the ground. It's a shooting war, after all. So, the Russian invasion of Ukraine unveils the reality of the weaponization of civil nuclear. It's clear that Ukraine's nuclear workers are under huge duress - and that could lead to very troubling consequences. Nuclear is a high-risk endeavor, after all.”
This is not the first time that events at Zaporizhzhia have triggered anxiety among experts with knowledge of nuclear power plants. Earlier this year, there was a fire in an outbuilding. The plant itself sustained damage due to Russian shelling. Dr. Dorfman remarked, “I didn’t sleep at all for a few days.”
There are six nuclear power reactors at Zaporizhzhia. Currently four of the six are shut down or are in the processed being cooled. This was reported by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). The Observatoire Départemental d'Equipement Commercial (ODEC) NEA is an intergovernmental agency that works on nuclear technology, science, law and safety.
One major argument against nuclear power is the problems that would arise if a nuclear reactor were located in a war zone. This was hypothetical until the Russians seized Zaporizhzhia.