Explained: Why Russia Wants To Capture The Defunct Chernobyl Radioactive Site

Russian forces have seized possession of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the exclusion zone surrounding it, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal announced on February 24. On Thursday, Russian and Ukrainian troops fought for control of Chernobyl, the defunct-radioactive site of the world's worst nuclear disaster and a factor in the Soviet Union's collapse.

"Unfortunately, I have to say that, as of now, the Chernobyl zone, the so-called exclusion zone, and all Chernobyl facilities have been taken under control by Russian armed groups," Shmygal said at a news conference following an emergency cabinet meeting in Kyiv.

Why is the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant important to Russia's Ukraine strategy?

A satellite image with overlaid graphics shows military vehicles alongside Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Chernoby | Photo: Reuters

Chernobyl is located on the shortest road from Belarus to Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and thus forms part of a feasible attack line for Russian forces invading Ukraine. Chernobyl lies around 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and might provide an entry point for invading forces.

Western military analysts said Russia simply used the fastest invasion route from Belarus, a close ally of Moscow and a staging area for Russian forces, to Kyiv in capturing Chernobyl as it would allow them to cross the Dnieper River in Belarus, avoiding a potentially hazardous crossing of the major river, which bisects Ukraine, behind enemy lines. According to Jack Keane, a former US Army chief of staff, Chernobyl "doesn't have any military value," but it is on the fastest route from Belarus to Kyiv, the target of a Russian "decapitation" operation to destabilise the Ukrainian government.

"Our defenders are offering their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted before Russian forces took control of a still nuclear power plant, which was the site of a devastating fire and explosion in 1986.

According to Igor Novikov, a former assistant to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the threat posed by the incapacitated nuclear reactor to Europe must be taken very seriously.

What was the ¡®Tragedy of 1986¡¯?

The Chernobyl nuclear power facility in Ukraine, which was then under Soviet control, experienced core explosions and fires in April 1986. It's believed to be the result of a defective Soviet reactor design combined with major plant operator errors. The surrounding land was contaminated by large amounts of radioactive material, and a nearby city was evacuated. Even after more than 30 years since the tragedy, scientists estimate that the zone around the defunct plant would be uninhabitable for up to 20,000 more years.

AP

The accident occurred in Chernobyl, in the former Soviet Union, which invested substantially in nuclear power after World War II. In 1977, Soviet scientists started constructing four RBMK nuclear reactors at the power plant, which is today located just south of Ukraine's Belarus border. The Soviet-designed RBMK (reaktor bolshoy moshchnosty kanalny, high-power channel reactor) is a water-cooled reactor with independent fuel channels and graphite as a moderator.

According to a United Nation analysis, 134 first responders were diagnosed with acute radiation syndrome as a result of the accident. Within four months, 28 of them died, and 19 more succumbed over the next two decades. Acute radiation syndrome can induce bone marrow deterioration, immune system suppression, and digestive issues, among other things. There were no cases reported among the general public in the towns surrounding the power station.

While no one lives in the area and the plant is no longer operational, Samantha Turner, a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project, warned that any active combat over the land might result in radioactive waste leaks.

The damaged Chernobyl reactor and the abandoned nearby city of Pripyat are surrounded by a vast "exclusion zone," where workers have spent years carefully dismantling the nuclear power plant and cleaning up radioactive particles.

Progressive closure and resettlement

AFP

In the early 1990s, 400 million dollars was spent on renovations to Chernobyl's remaining reactors, considerably improving their safety. According to Claire Corkhill, a professor of radioactive waste materials at the University of Sheffield, an international clean-up initiative at Chernobyl built a 32,000-tonne dome around the radioactive reactor, which was supported by more than 30 countries at a cost of 1.5 billion dollars ($1.5 billion). She also stated that an invasion of Ukraine would effectively put a halt to these operations.

In 1986, a concrete shelter was created to contain around 220 tonnes of highly radioactive material. In 2016, a new and safer structure was developed over the site, and the operation was handed over to Ukrainian authorities in 2020. According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the building is "strong enough to withstand a tornado." It was built to resist temperatures ranging from minus 45 degrees to 113 degrees Fahrenheit and was designed to survive at least 100 years.

Waste storage facility

According to the Washington Post report, the greater concern would be any damage to a waste storage facility on the site that contained radioactive material. There are other hot spots carrying the cesium isotope, within the Chernobyl zone. Staff at the site are aware of the danger zones, but outsiders, such as invading forces, may not be. According to the same report, they could endanger their own health or mistakenly contaminate tanks, other vehicles, and machinery.

Staff was working at a reduced capacity, due to a coronavirus outbreak among employees. But workers in charge of nuclear and radiation safety continued to report to work.

The site may have particular significance for Russia, as the accident there 36 years ago resulted in social changes and new collaboration with the West, transforming the Soviet Union. The Chernobyl disaster, according to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, was "perhaps the real cause of the Soviet Union's collapse."

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