The disaster that occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear facility in 1986 still haunts the world, images of the burning Reactor no. 4 – and of the vast wilderness that now envelops an exclusion zone unfit for human habitation – serving as a chilling reminder of mankind’s frailty in the face of the great forces it has unleashed. Just 700 km separate Chernobyl and the Zaporizhzhia plant, in southern Ukraine, where the world narrowly avoided a “radiation disaster” on Thursday, according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Electricity to the Zaporizhzhia complex, which is under the control of invading Russian forces, was cut for hours after fires broke out around the plant. Back-up diesel generators ensured power supply that is vital for cooling and safety systems.
The nuclear power station, the biggest in Europe, was reconnected to the national grid on Friday. It continues to function, its technicians watched by Russian troops who seized the site five months ago. But the near-miss must shake the world from its complacency and produce a negotiated deal to remove Russian troops from the site and allow an international safety monitoring presence there.
Kyiv and Moscow blame each other for shelling of the station that has damaged its power lines and radiation detectors. Both say they want international inspectors to visit the plant, but Russia has rejected calls to demilitarise the site by removing its troops, armour and heavy weapons. That position merely underlines Moscow’s reckless disregard for the lives of the people of Ukraine.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has sounded the alarm. “This is a serious hour, a grave hour and the IAEA must be allowed to conduct its mission in Zaporizhzhia as soon as possible,” its director Rafael Mariano Grossi told the United Nations Security Council. The deal on Ukrainian grain exports offers a template for agreement on the standoff at Zaporizhzhia. It is essential that a demilitarised zone be created and that IAEA inspectors be admitted. The fate of millions of people may depend on it.