‘Bigger than Chernobyl’: Ukraine’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant Is on Fire After ‘Relentless’ Shelling by Russians (UPDATED)
One of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants was ablaze early Friday morning after it was shelled by Russian forces, according to multiple reports.
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have grown more aggressive in recent days. U.S. officials have reported Russian President Vladimir Putin is attacking civilians.
On Friday morning in south central Ukraine, it appeared Putin’s army had taken a new approach to the conflict: bombing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the city of Enerhodar.
The Associated Press reported,
A spokesman for Europe’s largest nuclear plant says the facility is on fire after Russia attacked the power station in the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. A government official tells The Associated Press elevated levels of radiation are being detected near the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which provides about 25% of the country’s power generation.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been publicly released.
Plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that it is urgent to stop the fighting to put out the flames.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba reportedly confirmed the attack on Zaporizhzhia in a statement:
BREAKING – Ukraine’s FM confirms Zaporizhzhia fire:
“If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chornobyl! Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!” – Kuleba says
— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) March 4, 2022
On CNN’s OutFront, host Erin Burnett shared the breaking news with her audience, and also showed video taken from the plant.
“It is one of the largest nuclear power plants in all of Europe,” she said. “There is a fire there now. The mayor of the town there posting a message on Facebook that reads, and I quote him, “A threat to world security as a result of relentless shelling by the enemy of the buildings and blocks of largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The nuclear power plant is on fire.”
Burnett then paraphrased former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, stating that the plant would be “two times bigger than Chernobyl if it were serious. Much higher radiation than Chernobyl.”
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported late Thursday that the fire was put out, and that the nuclear plant is secure.
#BREAKING Ukrainian authorities say safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is now secured, after a fire broke out when the station came under fire from invading Russian forces.
“The director of the plant said that the nuclear safety is now guaranteed”: Oleksandr Starukh pic.twitter.com/J8bk142GLY
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 4, 2022
Yair Rosenberg with the Atlantic offered a thoughtful reaction to Thursday’s strike against the facility, when he noted that nuclear power is not as volatile as it was in 1986, during the Chernobyl disaster.
Rosenberg shared screenshots of news coverage of the shelling of the facility and reminded the media at large to “wait for facts.”
1. Today’s nuclear reactors are not like Chernobyl’s; they’re extraordinarily resilient, made to withstand extreme events.
2. The fire was not actually at the plant itself in the first place.Always wait for the facts before believing what you read on Twitter in the fog of war. pic.twitter.com/pMzJ87CXB8
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) March 4, 2022
Watch above, via CNN.
UPDATE: This story has been updated with reporting from the AFP, which cited Ukrainian officials who said that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is secure.
