Greenpeace Urges IAEA to Deploy Monitors at Ukrainian NPP: Russian Missile Strikes Threaten Nuclear Disaster in Europe

Greenpeace has warned that Ukraine's energy grid is at ‘increased risk of catastrophic failure’ following a Russian missile and drone attack on Sunday, raising concerns about the safety of the country's three operating nuclear power plants, The Guardian reports.

‘It is clear that Russia is using the threat of nuclear disaster as its main military leverage to defeat Ukraine. But by carrying out the attacks, Russia risks a nuclear catastrophe in Europe comparable to Fukushima in 2011, Chernobyl in 1986 or worse,’ said Sean Burney, nuclear expert at Greenpeace Ukraine.

The pressure group Greenpeace has called on Russia to immediately stop its attacks on Ukraine's power grid and on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to deploy permanent observers at substations critical to the country's nuclear power plants. The IAEA conducted one inspection in late October, but did not commit to return.

Russia's missile and drone strikes have targeted electrical substations ‘important to the operation of Ukraine's nuclear power plants’ and there is a possibility that reactors could lose power and become unsafe, according to a briefing prepared for the Guardian.

On Sunday night and early morning, Russia fired a salvo of more than 210 missiles and drones targeting electricity generation and transmission targets across the country.

The explosions were heard in the cities of Kyiv, Odesa and Mykolaiv in the south, Kryvyi Rih, Pavlohrad, Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, and Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west. The explosions were also heard near Ukraine's border with Moldova, where Ukraine's power grid connects to its neighbour and the rest of Europe.

Hours later, Ukrenergo, the country's main electricity provider, announced nationwide rationing to help restore the system.

On Sunday, the IAEA reported that trunk power lines from four substations to three nuclear power plants had been cut, and at Khmelnytskyi NPP, monitors on site ‘heard a loud explosion.’ Two power lines to Rivne became inaccessible, and the capacity of six of the nine operating nuclear reactors at three sites was reduced.

Greenpeace claims that Russia is deliberately targeting Ukraine's nuclear power plants.

 ‘People and the environment are most at risk in Ukraine, but there is a possibility of severe impacts on much of Europe and beyond, depending on the wind direction at the time,’ Greenpeace said in its report.

Although Greenpeace is an independent organisation, it maintains contacts with the Ukrainian government. Official Ukrainian sources contacted by the Guardian acknowledged Greenpeace's technical analysis of the crisis.