Nuclear Blackmail  

The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in Energodar is the largest in Europe. Energodar and Zaporozhye have been under Russian control since March, 2022. Kiev has repeatedly attacked the facility. Continuing provocations could put Europe at risk of a nuclear disaster that could eclipse the 1986 Chernobyl incident.

All six power units were switched off and taken under Russian protection. Besides the reactors, there is a dry spent fuel storage facility. Although a thick concrete dome and walls protecting it are highly durable, they weren’t designed to withstand constant shelling. Damage to the storage facility ‘could lead to radioactive contamination, something similar to a dirty bomb,’ a former plant employee says.

While International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors demanded that all attacks on the plant ‘be stopped immediately,’ artillery strikes from the north continue. ‘The plant has been made a tool for blackmail,’ say residents of Zaporozhye Region, which voted in a referendum in September to join Russia. 

This documentary examines the situation on the ground in Energodar. Local residents share their accounts of everyday shelling, while Rosatom experts talk about the risks of a nuclear disaster.

Watch "Nuclear Blackmail" on RTD website.