How vulnerable are Ukraine’s nuclear power stations to attack?

For years, security services have worried about terrorists unleashing a ‘dirty bomb’ – where a conventional explosive is used to spread radioactive material over a large area. Russian forces now stand accused of threatening a similar form of warfare in Ukraine: attacking a nuclear power station with conventional weapons. Shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station on the Dneiper River in the south of the country over the weekend is not believed to have released any radiation, although it did damage some equipment and one worker has been reported injured. However, the possibilities for causing havoc by attacking nuclear stations is very clear. As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned this morning, attacking nuclear stations is ‘suicidal’, given the potential spread of contamination.

Russia denies launching attacks on the station, which lies just within Russian-held territory but is still being operated by Ukrainian staff, and blames Ukraine. To complicate matters, Russia has been accused of using the nuclear power station as a shield by employing rocket-launchers from the site.