Categories: UKRAINE

Russian strike on Chornobyl NPP: risk of radioactive leak, attack could have led to nuclear disaster

According to Flot 2017, a Russian attack on the sarcophagus of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has created the possibility of a radioactive leak under certain circumstances. However, the situation is currently under control, and no radiation level exceedance has been recorded.

This was reported by the chief engineer of the Chornobyl NPP, Oleksandr Tytarchuk, during a briefing at the site, as cited by Ukrinform.

“The shelter is already old. It will soon be 40 years old, and to ensure safety, the international community allocated funds to build a new safe confinement, which was extremely costly and demanded great efforts and even the health of many of our workers. That is the first point. Secondly, the old shelter has ceased to fulfill its function. Now, there is a possibility of radioactive substances leaking due to various actions that could occur at the old shelter facility… At present, no exceedance of the radiation background control levels at the site has been recorded. The background remains unchanged,” he stated.

The head of the State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management, Hryhoriy Ishchenko, added that the consequences of the strike could have been catastrophic.

“The consequences could have been catastrophic. If, for example, the drone had hit 15 meters to the side, above the old shelter, it would have caused a radiation accident of a completely different scale,” he noted.

Earlier, Flot 2017 reported that Russian terrorist forces attacked the Chornobyl NPP shelter overnight using a strike drone with a high-explosive warhead. The fire was extinguished, and radiation levels remained stable. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that such actions prove that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is “definitely not preparing for negotiations.”

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has published images of the wreckage of an Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drone, which Russian forces used to strike the shelter of the fourth reactor of the Chornobyl NPP on February 14. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that efforts to mitigate the consequences of the Russian attack are ongoing at the site. Emergency services continue working to repair the damage caused by the drone strike.

Ukraine Front Lines