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Located in southeast Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe. It normally produces about twenty percent of Ukraine’s electricity. The plant was captured by Russian forces in March of 2022. At the time of its capture, it was feared that the Russian forces would destroy the plant to halt a Ukrainian advance.
Zaporizhzhia has been operational since 1984. It sits on a half square mile site on the banks of the Kakhovka reservoir. Each of the six reactors in the plant is capable of generating one gigawatt. The average nuclear power plant in the U.S. sits on a one square mile site and generates one gigawatt of electricity. Water from the Kakhovka reservoir is critical for the cooling and operation of the plant. Any spent nuclear fuel from the Zaporizhzhia reactors is stored in cooling pools for up to five years to give the residual energy and radioactivity time to decrease so it can be handled.
The Zaporizhzhia plant has multiple safety precautions in place. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the affects of the Russian attack and occupation have not affected the essential equipment or caused radiation levels to change. U.S. officials have also stated that there is no indication of elevated radiation levels at the plant.
If an explosion occurred at Zaporizhzhia, the results would be catastrophic. Ukrainian officials have said that there is a “real threat of nuclear danger”. Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that if Zaporizhzhia blows up, “it will be 10 times larger than Chernobyl”. The resulting blast would kill thousands of people in the area around the plant. Depending on weather conditions, radiation could be carried further into Europe. Fallout could even reach London. The chances of that are unlikely because the design of the reactors contains many safety features.
The Russian occupying forces have been using Zaporizhzhia as a military base. Vehicles were parked around the reactors. Stocks of supplies and ammunition have also been stored at the plant. There has been fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian occupiers around Zaporizhzhia. Each side has accused the other of endangering the plant. The Ukrainians fear that the Russians might blow up the plant to deny Ukraine the electricity that it produces. The Russians claim that the Ukrainians might blow up the plant and try to blame the Russians.
Recently, the Russians occupying the plant have been leaving. The Ukrainians have been sounding the alarm that the Russians are placing explosives in and around the plant. They may intend to remotely detonate the explosives after they leave and claim that it was the Ukrainian forces who occupied the abandoned plant who either intentionally or unintentionally caused the plant to explode.
NATO recently passed a resolution that said that if Russia or Russian-aligned nations caused an explosion that spread radioactive materials into NATO nations, then NATO would consider that a nuclear attack by Russia on NATO. Russia might blow up Zaporizhzhia as a last-ditch desperation move, believing they can blame Ukraine and escape retaliation by NATO. The current situation is extremely dangerous.