photo: bankruptcy-ua.com
[For urgent updates please follow Ukrainian Freedom News on Telegram]
In the event of an accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, almost 500 thousand people will have to be evacuated. Despite the fact that the radiation background is currently normal in the area, the evacuation plans are already being adjusted. This was reported by Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration.
«The situation is dangerous not only for the Zaporizhzhia region. If we take the 50-kilometre zone of mandatory resettlement, that may arise as a result of an accident at the nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, then more than 270 000 people in our region must be resettled, and some 200 000 in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region,» – he explains.
Read also: Will Ukraine be able to switch from gas to electricity
The regional authorities are talking about such towns as Nikopol, Marhanets, Enerhodar, Vasylivka, Dniprorudne and other settlements.
«The problem is that it’s very difficult to fully implement measures for civil protection of the population, because part of the territories is occupied. They [Russians] even occupied the backup control center, where our energy workers should be in case of an emergency. Therefore, the situation is really difficult. For the last week, both the president and the government have been making efforts to stabilize the situation,» – added Starukh.
Currently, all evacuation plans are being adjusted to take into account the military situation. At the same time, the radiation background in the vicinity of the NPP is stable, the indicators do not exceed the norm. However, the head of the Regional Military Administration emphasizes that the situation can change at any moment due to the actions of the Russians.
As a reminder, the consequences of an accident at the Zaporizhzhya NPP can be ten times stronger than at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Specialists made this conclusion based on the consequences of the 1986 accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. This is due to the fact that the amount of nuclear fuel at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is 9-10 times greater than at Chornobyl. According to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Russia can provoke the biggest accident in history at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, and it will actually mean the use of nuclear weapons without a nuclear strike.
Translated by Vitalii Holich
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
