Russia’s attack on a nuclear power plant in Ukraine has revived the fears of people across Europe who remember the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed at least 30 people and spewed radioactive fallout over much of the Northern Hemisphere.
The shattered remains of the control room for Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2011.
But that did little to ease growing concerns in Western Europe. Even before the attack, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had heightened concerns about the vulnerability of the nuclear reactors that provide about 50% of the country’s electricity. In addition to the danger of explosives damaging the reactors, plant managers and technicians must have unfettered access to the plants to ensure they operate safely, nuclear experts warned.
An operator's armchair covered with plastic sits in an empty control room of the third reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 20, 2018.
Pharmacies in some Eastern European and Scandinavian countries reported a surge in demand for iodine tablets, which can be used to protect children from radiation exposure. Politicians rushed to criticize Russia’s “reckless” actions, and Ukrainian authorities renewed calls for a no-fly zone to ensure Europe doesn’t face another nuclear disaster.
A power-generating unit at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the city of Enerhodar, in southern Ukraine, June 12, 2008.
“I didn’t really sleep last night,’’ said Paul Dorfman, who led the European Environment Agency’s response to Chernobyl and was glued to the news from Ukraine on his phone. “The fact is that when things go really wrong with nuclear, you can begin to write off a lot of people’s lives.’’
A photograph of 81-year-old Pjotr Vyerko's wife, Lidya, who died from skin cancer believe to be caused by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, hangs on a wall of his house, which was damaged by the shock waves of a Russian airstrike in Gorenka, outside the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, March 2, 2022.
That’s what happened on April 26, 1986, when a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test destroyed Unit 4 at the Chernobyl power plant in northern Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union.
Ukrainian National Guard, armed forces and special operations units exercise as they simulate a crisis situation in an urban settlement, in the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine, Feb. 4, 2022.
The accident and fire that followed released massive amounts of radioactive material, forcing the evacuation of nearby communities and contaminating 150,000 square kilometers (60,000 square miles) of land in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
In this photo taken from video distributed by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Intercontinental ballistic missiles are launched by the Vladimir Monomakh nuclear submarine of the Russian navy, Dec. 12, 2020.
The initial explosion killed two plant workers, and 28 others died within the next three months. By 2005, more than 6,000 thyroid cancers were reported among children and adolescents in the affected area, many of which were most likely caused by radiation, according to a report from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Radiation.
In this photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Russian nuclear submarines Prince Vladimir, above, and Yekaterinburg are harbored at a Russian naval base in Gazhiyevo, Kola Peninsula, Russia, April 13, 2021.
“Radioactive fallout scattered over much of the Northern Hemisphere via wind and storm patterns, but the amounts dispersed were in many instances insignificant,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
A Soviet-era top-secret object Duga, an over-the-horizon radar system once used as part of the Soviet missile defense early-warning radar network, is seen behind a radioactivity sign in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Nov. 22, 2018.
Twenty-five years later, an earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, forcing the evacuation of more than 100,000 people. The accident raised safety concerns that led Japan and many other countries to curtail the use of nuclear power stations.
A worker checks the radiation level on barrels in a storage facility for nuclear waste taken from the fourth unit destroyed by the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Chernobyl, Ukraine, March 23, 2016.
Nuclear experts on Friday stressed that the Zaporizhzhia plant is much safer than Chernobyl because the reactor is housed inside a reinforced concrete containment building designed to prevent radioactive material from escaping in the event of an accident. Chernobyl didn’t have this kind of structure.
A view of the ghost town of Pripyat with a shelter covering the damaged reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the background, Ukraine, April 15, 2021.
While a Chernobyl-type event is unlikely, the containment vessel isn’t designed to withstand explosive ordinance such as artillery shells, said Robin Grimes, a professor of materials science at Imperial College London. “It is therefore staggering and reckless to the extreme that shells have been fired close to a nuclear plant, let alone targeting buildings within the plant,” Grimes said. “Even if they were not aiming for the nuclear plant, artillery is notoriously inaccurate in a time of war.”
The rusty emblem of the Soviet Union is seen on the roof of an apartment building in the ghost town of Pripyat close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ukraine, April 15, 2021.
