What happens if the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant explodes? From the radioactive cloud to the atomic disaster, risks and simulations

Attack on nuclear power plant Of Zaporizhzhia? What are the risks? “A radioactive cloud released by the plants in question would remain limited to Ukrainian territory, skirting the border with the Russian Federation.” This is what emerges from the forecast analysis tools supplied by the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety (ISIN), which is evaluating the evolution of “hypothetical releases of radioactive substances based on the prevailing winds”. Following the drone attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, announced yesterday by IAEA director Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Inspectorate “is in fact monitoring the situation at the Ukrainian site”.

The simulations

The Inspectorate informs that, «according to the latest simulations, conducted with the Aries system of the Isin Emergency Centre, a possible cloud of radioactivity would move, in the first 24 hours from the hypothesized release at 12 noon today, in a westerly direction, hitting the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odessa (partially) and Kirovohrad. Subsequently, the cloud would suddenly turn north, north-east, affecting the Ukrainian regions of Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and, very marginally, Sumy”.

The free zone

«We must try to create a free zone around Zaporizhzhia. The nuclear power plant represents an opportunity but also a risk. It is good that the forces in the field do not fight around or inside the plant because we must avoid another Chernobyl. Let’s hope common sense always prevails.” Thus the foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, on the sidelines of an electoral meeting in Matera.

Features

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which once again came under fire from the conflict between Russians and Ukrainians, is located in the south of the country, in Energodar: it is the largest in Europe and among the ten largest in the world. Its production is capable of reaching 42 billion kWh of electricity, equivalent to approximately 40% of the electricity generated overall by all Ukrainian nuclear power plants and one fifth of the annual electricity production in Ukraine. For a year and a half it has no longer produced energy to power Ukraine’s electricity grid but remains partially active only to manage safety devices.

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