Russia-Ukraine War: Chernobyl’s Fall Raises Concerns of Another Nuclear Disaster Among Experts

In 1977, the Soviet Union completed the building of the Chernobyl nuclear power facility in Ukraine, and in 1986, Chernobyl's Reactor 4 melted down.

Two massive explosions at the facility that year blasted off the reactor's 2,000-ton (1,800-metric-ton) cap, contaminating the surrounding 2,600-square-kilometer area with radioactive fallout. In fact, its emitted radioactivity was 400 times higher than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.

The disaster killed 31 people in the immediate aftermath and blasted plumes of radioactive fallout throughout Europe, potentially killing thousands more.

Since the cataclysmic explosion of the nuclear power station, vast areas of the Chernobyl exclusion zone have been locked off as one of the most hazardous places on the planet. The area was later declared uninhabitable for the following 24,000 years!

On Thursday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 137 Ukrainian nationals, both soldiers and civilians, had died, and hundreds more had been injured. But the devastation did not end here, as the Russian forces also established themselves in Chernobyl.

The seizure has since triggered a barrage of warnings from Ukrainian officials about the dangers of warfare near the site and Russia’s control of it. Mykhailo Podolyak, the Ukrainian presidential adviser, said it's "impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe" and the seizure being "one of Europe's most serious threats."

Chernobyl zone has storage facilities for unsafe nuclear radioactive waste. The construction of a "sarcophagus" surrounding the nuclear reactors to protect the nuclear material was completed in 2017. But that sarcophagus was to be torn down by 2023 because it was nearing the end of its shelf life.

So, if there is an explosion at the site, those dangerous particles would be released and disperse with prevailing winds. This is exactly what happened in 1986, when winds blowing northwest dispersed radioactive particles all over Northern Europe.

In other words, the area is not at this moment immune from an explosion — accidental or otherwise.

And if the occupation of Chernobyl isn't problematic enough, Ukraine has 15 other nuclear reactors that might be at the risk of accidental explosions.

Recently, a Kyiv safety expert had warned that if Chernobyl was caught in the crossfire of a Russian invasion, Ukraine's nuclear power facilities would represent a risk of radioactive pollution. And the radiation could contaminate the air, land and waterways, which could effectively harm not just Ukraine, but also Russia and much of Europe.

Now, it remains to be seen if his worst fears will come true.

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