Concern is growing over the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The Ukrainian power plant was again the target of attacks on Thursday, of which Russia and Ukraine blame each other. Passing near a reactor, they touched part of the facilities, raising fears of a possible accident with dire consequences.
“The situation is getting worse”
“The situation at the Zaporijjia power plant for several weeks is really very worrying,” laments on BFMTV Bruno Chareyron, nuclear engineer and director of the laboratory of the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD).
The strikes occurred on Thursday near a reactor of the power plant and “in the immediate vicinity of a deposit of radioactive substances,” the Ukrainian state-owned company Energoatom said in a press release.
Yesthese are not the first attacks on the plant since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukrainethis time, his dangerousness seems particularly high.
“The situation is getting worse (…), several radiation sensors have been damaged,” as well as “the sewage pumping station,” the energy company worried.
Possible “radioactive releases”
But what kind of accident can actually cause these strikes? For nuclear engineer Bruno Chareyron, firing near fuel or radioactive waste storage areas is particularly dangerous.
“This creates a situation that can potentially lead to radioactive releases, or even a nuclear disaster,” he said.
It also points out that the existence of bombardments near high voltage lines “reduces the ability to access electricity to adequately cool the reactors.”
In addition, the current context in Ukraine and the stress that it may cause to the personnel responsible for the management of the plant may also have consequences on the risk of a nuclear accident.
“In history, several nuclear disasters have also been due in part to human error,” recalls Bruno Chareyron.
A “disaster scenario”?
Would France be threatened if such a catastrophe occurred? Not necessarily, according to the nuclear expert, for whom “everything will depend on the level of emissions” and “on the direction of the winds.”
“There are situations where occasional downloads can last only a few hours and situations where it lasts for days,” he also believes.
If the scenario of a disaster of the magnitude known with Chernobyl in 1986 is not the most likely, the Ukrainian plant does not have the same type of reactors, the engineer remains cautious.
“Unfortunately we can build disaster scenarios with one of the reactors seriously affected and why not, in a cascade, all the plant’s reactors and have extremely intense leaks,” he warns.
The IAEA requests an on-site inspection mission
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) himself sounded the alarm shortly after the attacks.
“The situation is serious and the IAEA must be authorized to carry out its mission in Zaporizhia as quickly as possible”, he warned this Thursday, before the UN Security Council, asking that a mission be sent there to inspect the plant, a mission of which Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other. to slow down
To ensure the safety of the site and allow for an inspection mission, the UN secretary-general and the United States on Thursday called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the plant.
Source: BFM TV
