PRIPYAT, UKRAINE – APRIL 09: A sign warns of radiation contamination near former apartment … [+]
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could disturb the nation’s considerable nuclear infrastructure, posing a possible threat to surrounding nations in Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter Thursday that Russian forces “are trying to seize” the Chernobyl nuclear site, where the most catastrophic nuclear accident in history took place in 1986.
“This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe,” Zelensky added.
Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko wrote on Facebook that troops entering the country from Belarus have moved into the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
“If the invaders’ artillery hits and ruins / damages the collectors of nuclear waste, radioactive nuclear dust can can be spread over the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and the (countries of the European Union.)”
383381 01: A general view of the sarcophagus that covers the Ukraine”s Chernobyl nuclear power … [+]
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The failed reactor number four at Chernobyl was hastily encased in 1986 with a massive structure of steel and cement often called the “sarcophagus” in an attempt to contain as much dangerous radioactive material as possible. A second layer of containment called the “New Safe Confinement” structure has been in place since 2016 while the unstable sarcophagus is deconstructed and clean-up continues.
And as fellow Forbes contributor Craig Hooper points out, the problem with military conflict in Ukraine isn’t just Chernobyl. The country is home to 15 nuclear reactors.
“A Russian invasion, coupled with an extended conventional war throughout Ukraine, could generate multiple International Atomic Energy Agency “Level 7” accidents in a matter of days,” Hooper wrote in December. “Such a contingency would induce a massive refugee exodus and could render much of Ukraine uninhabitable for decades.”
Now that invasion is here, launched by Putin’s Russia under the pretense that it was defending itself against Ukrainian aggression.
Explosions have been reported in Ukrainian cities as Russian troops moved into the country across its north, south and east borders. Forty Ukrainian soldiers have already reportedly been killed in the clashes.
