CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

VASILKA SANCIN CYIL 14 (2023) ‘military action jeopardizing the safety and security of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is completely unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs.’ 6 The safe and secure operation of NPPs demands that several nuclear safety and security measures are in place to prevent and manage the risks of nuclear accidents and other incidents compromising a plant’s physical and functional integrity. NPPs contain radioactive material, and damage to a nuclear reactor could result in immediate exposure to lethal concentrations of gamma radiation and radioactive contamination by the inhalation of airborne radioactive particles, with severe short and long-term (potentially decades long) effects on human health and on the environment. Radioactive material may be released when various components of an NPP – such as reactors or tanks storing spent fuel – are destroyed or damaged, or their functioning is impaired. The risk of radiation leak as a result of military activities in and around such facilities is very high, and can be caused either directly, for instance by a shell hitting one of such components; indirectly through interruptions in water or electricity flow caused by the fighting; or result from operational failure due to staff death, injury, or other inability to ensure the safe and secure functioning of the plant (for instance frontlines or movement restrictions by the parties to the conflict preventing staff or system components reaching the plant, or human error by staff operating under increasing stress and strain). 7 While an explosion of the reactor or spent fuel tanks would result in radioactive particles from fissionable material and fission products being carried downwind, potentially over vast distances and in an unpredictable manner, depending on meteorological conditions, even absent an explosion, leaked radioactive material, for instance as a result of damage to a plant’s storage tanks or containment system, would seep into the soil and underground water, poisoning the flora and fauna in a large radius extending up to hundreds of kilometres around the damaged power plant. 8 Additionally, NPPs mass-produce electricity, oftentimes indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, thus damage to or disruption of the functioning of an NPP risks depriving large areas of electricity, with grave impact on other essential services and on the wellbeing of civilians. An NPP can be defined as a thermal power plant in which the heat source is an ongoing atomic fission reaction. A coolant removes the released heat and in a steam generator this heat is transferred to water in a secondary circuit where steam is generated. This steam powers a steam turbine that drives a generator to generate electricity. 9 Although there have been few core melt accidents, 10 until the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the increased concern 6 See e.g., Director General Grossi Alarmed by Shelling at Ukraine NPP, says IAEA Mission Vital for Nuclear Safety and Security, 6 August 2022, IAEA at https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/director general-grossi-alarmed-by-shelling-at-ukraine-npp-says-iaea-mission-vital-for-nuclear-safety-and-security [accessed 21 June 2023] and his further statements at https://www.iaea.org/nuclear-safety-and-security-in ukraine?page=3 [accessed 7 July 2023]. 7 ZEITH, A., GEORGIOU, E. Dangerous forces: the protection of nuclear power plants in armed conflict (2022) Humanitarian Law & Policy at p. 2, https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/wp-content/uploads/sites/102/2022/10/ Dangerous-forces_-the-protection-of-nuclear-power-plants-in-armed-conflict-Humanitarian-Law-Policy-Blog.pdf [accessed 21 June 2023]. 8 Ibid. 9 See Energy Encyclopaedia, Nuclear Energy at https://www.energyencyclopedia.com/en/nuclear-energy/the-nu clear-reactors/the-nuclear-power-plant-how-it-works?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1_SkBhDwARIsANbGpFsas9M0Bygd scz0dyaEb71znMaCedYI271LlGVkqWXlvZLaBEDpizAaAjPNEALw_wcB [accessed 21 June 2023]. 10 For the list and description see https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety of-plants/safety-of-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx [accessed 21 June 2023].

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