Many Europeans still remember the day when a huge, massive explosion at Chernobyl’s place happened, and invisible radioactive clouds spread over the whole continent densely. “People do not judge the risk of radiation well, and they are much more frightened, frequently, than they need to be” Rofer says.
Nowadays, the hot topic in the market to be discussed is Ukraine-Russia Conflict and Ukraine's most powerful nuclear power plant i.e., Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. May God forbid, if this nuclear plant exploded, this could be the reason for a disaster on a massive level.
As all of you already know, the Ukraine-Russia Conflict is going on. So, basically the Zaporizhzhia Power Plant is in Ukraine and shelling has also been done in the surrounding areas of this nuclear power plant. Obviously, if this power plant has been tried to damage or if any reactor of this nuclear power plant has been damaged in future, then there would be the biggest explosion of all times in the future. Just like it had already been done back in the history of the place of Chernobyl in 1986. |
| The remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the explosion. Photograph: AP |
So basically, what has happened in Chernobyl, a strong nuclear reactor was exploded just because of the mismanagement of nuclear reactor by the engineers or scientists of the time due to which a massive blow or explosion of disaster has engulfed the whole Chernobyl City and it has been banned for the people to live there. Since 1986 till to the date, the City of Chernobyl has been evacuated, and nobody is allowed to enter or live in there because there are still the strong uranium radiations present in its air.
Similarly, in 2011, at the place of Fukushima, a massive disaster traumatized the whole city of Fukushima and this catastrophe was also due to the explosion of a nuclear reactor. We know that the lifespan or half-life of Uranium is 710 million years and if a nuclear reactor explodes somewhere then we can say that its radiation will remain in the atmosphere of the particular place till the end of this world which could be very dangerous for the upcoming generations too.
| Satellite image of damage at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan following the March 11, 2011, earthquake, and tsunami. Stanford researchers have provided the first detailed analysis of the global health impacts of the disaster |
So, if we keep in our mind the two major disasters of the history, then we can have many of the question in our mind: “What could possibly be the danger to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear reactor?” or “If this nuclear plant explodes, will Ukraine be the victim just like the ones back in history”? This is a serious issue that everyone needs to ponder over.
The purpose of writing today’s blog is to spread the awareness to every single person out there around the globe that this Ukraine-Russia conflict needs to be stopped or else I’m sorry to say: “It is a call for World-War III”.
Here we are going to ponder over some of the main points which are given below:
Ukraine-Russia Conflict
History between these two countries.
Relationship between the two-country people.
What led up to the war?
Putin’s Justification of Full Invasion.
Why did Putin invoke “Nazis”?
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
What has IAEA said?
Could the Power Plant Explode?
So, let's start discussing all the main reasons of war between the two countries:
Ukraine-Russia Conflict:
Russia’s President Vladmir Putin has already clarified that Ukraine’s place was always under Russia because it was part of the Soviet Union in the past. That is why Ukraine was always under the thumb of Russia. We can say that Russia always wants to see Ukraine under his control, that’s why Vladmir Putin has given this statement.
And to some extent, Putin’s statement is also valid because Ukraine’s position had always been under Russia in the 18th Century from the days of Catherine-the Great.
The main reason for the Ukraine-Russia Conflict started in recent years, when successive Ukrainian governments started to establish good terms and forged closer ties with the European Union and NATO to which Vladmir has strongly disliked. Vladmir Putin never wanted Ukraine to develop on good terms with the European Union or NATO. And Putin has clearly said that he wants to settle Ukraine's future by force or by war.
History between these two countries:
Do the two countries share the same common past? Well, both Ukraine and Russia have the same common past and it is older than the 1000 years old first Slavic State “Kyivan Rus”. This Slavic State basically comprised the three states like “Russia, Ukraine, Belarus”. That’s why both countries share a common past even before this 1000 years old Slavic State.
When did Ukraine become part of the Russian empire? Ukraine became a part of the Russian empire in the late 1700s after the reign of Mongols, Tatars, the Poles, and Lithuanians.
Ukraine declared its independence in 1918 but the Red Army conquered most of the areas of Ukraine and that’s how Ukraine again became a republic within the Soviet Union. But soon after the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine regained its independence in 1991.
Relationship between the two-country people:
Almost everyone or we can say a minority group in Ukraine knows and speaks Russian. Ethnic Russians are the largest minority group in Ukraine. According to the recent census done in Ukraine, 17% of the total population in Ukraine are the Ethnic Russians.
This 17% Russian Minority Group is higher in the country’s Crimea Peninsula and in some parts of East Ukraine. Some Ukrainian citizens retain their sympathy for Russia, but the sudden invasion in Ukraine has drained all their kind sympathy for Russians.
What led up to the war?
What was the main reason that has caused both countries to led up to the war? Conflicts have started between Moscow and Kyiv since Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004. Basically, an Orange Revolution occurred when Viktor Yanukovych became the president of Ukraine with a fraudulent election. Victor won in the fraud election because he had full back-end support of Russia that’s why it was a revolt against fraudulent election of Russia-backed Viktor Yanukovych as president.
Viktor Yanukovych was elected in 2010 and was deposed in February 2014 when he decided to end all the treaties on a trade pact with European Union and NATO under the pressure of Russia.
Ukrainians had the full support of the United States of America and European Union, but America was supporting Ukraine because they wanted to use Ukraine against Russia and so Russia wanted to end all the treaties among Ukraine and EU or NATO through Viktor Yanukovych. This way, Ukraine can never get independent but on the other hand, Ukraine decided to depose Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Russia started supporting Moscow separatist groups in Ukraine and declared the two Independent Republics in Eastern Donbas territory along the Russian border. These things initiated a conflict and headed to the war.
Putin’s Justification of Full Invasion:
Vladimir Putin and his allies let’s say France, Germany and those who are supporting to Russia in the back end, accused the Ukrainian Government of “genocide” or annihilation against ethnic and native Russian speakers. This groundless allegation was rejected by Ukraine as well as the United States and EU States.
Days before the invasion, Vladimir Putin recognized the separatist groups as “self-styled republics” and declared that these republics don’t want to be a part of Ukraine now.
After that Putin gave the main reason for the invasion and said that the main objective of the invasion is “demilitarization” of Ukraine. It means that Putin wants to diminish the Ukrainian military and wants the Russian Military to take over the charge in Ukraine. This ‘demilitarization’ can be in favor of Russia because in this way, that would make Ukraine unable to join NATO.
Second main reason that Putin gave for the invasion was the “denazification” of Ukraine. Putin calls Ukrainian as ‘Nazi’ and as all of us know that Adolf Hitler has a great role in ‘Nazification’, that’s why he wanted to demolish ‘Nazification’ from Ukraine.
Why did Putin invoke “Nazis”?
Vladimir Putin painted his enemies in Ukraine as ‘neo-Nazis’. If we look then we come to know that calling Ukrainians as Nazis itself is irony because the country had a Jewish President “Volodymyr Zelensky” who lost his relatives in Holocaust and now heads a Western backed, democratically elected government.
The Holocaust, Nazism and World War-II have been important tools for in his bid to legitimize Russia’s war in Ukraine. But the historians condemn this disinformation and declare this as a ‘cynical play’ for the Russian leader to invade forcefully in Ukraine.
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant:
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is the biggest nuclear power plant in the entire Europe and ranked among the 10 biggest nuclear power plants in the whole world.
This nuclear power plant has the total capacity of producing 6000-Megawatt electricity, which could be enough for 40 million homes.
Zaporizhzhia is located in the Southern Ukrainian Steppe, 252 km from Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident in 1986.
This nuclear plant is operated by Ukrainian staff, but Russian Military Units guard the facility.
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has six Soviet-designed water-cooled reactors containing the Uranium-235 having the net capacity of 950 Megawatts.
What has IAEA said?
The UN’s nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report on a nuclear power plant on September 6, saying “Gravely concerned about the current situation around Zaporizhzhia power plant”.
It also said that the power plant has been greatly damaged near the reactor buildings, while the shelling has not triggered any of the ‘nuclear reactor’ yet, but it seems a great threat to the nuclear safety.
Last month, the director-general of the IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said that: “every principle of nuclear safety has been violated in Ukraine”.
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| An image from the Russian Defence Ministry shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine on 7 August |
9. Could the Power Plant Explode?
According to experts, it is possible to explode, but the likelihood of that taking part is unclear and unsure. But we can also say that if multiple catastrophic factors are united, then it is possible for the plant to explode causing a massive destruction.
IAEA is concerned about the shelling being done around the buildings of the nuclear reactor, with the potential of damaging to the infra-structure of the building, including the reactors.
Reactors need to be constantly kept cool by water passing through them. If this water stream is cut out, cut off, cut down due to some reason, then the reactor might lose its cooling and the fuel like uranium-235 will start melting. It will some sort of create a high pressure inside the reactor due to losing of cool, and the fuel like uranium can explode and we can say that unlike Chernobyl or Fukushima, Zaporizhzhia can cause a great disaster.
10. What would Happen Then?
May God forbid, if an explosion would occur in this power plant, the result will be widespread evacuations to escape an invisible radioactive cloud in the atmosphere. However, the leak in radiation would probably be felt for years to come.
Some of the illness in the result of this explosion could be acute or chronic. Chronic diseases will cause a sudden death and acute radiations will cause poisoning or even cancer that emerge later.
For people who will be exposed to lower levels of radiation, there may be greater numbers of cancer cases coming later over the following years to decades. People who will not be exposed much to the great radiation, may still suffer from acute radiation poisoning and recover. This will happen over days to weeks, maybe for months.
Just like Chernobyl and Fukushima are fully black-out due to the disaster being done there, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is also in a great threat. This destruction will not be done only in Ukraine, but it will be the destruction to the whole mankind. This Ukraine-Russia conflict needs to be stopped or else I’m sorry to say: “It is a call for World-War III”.
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