Kyiv, Ukraine – In urging Kyiv to transfer its nuclear power plants to Washington, United States President Donald Trump may have overlooked one of the most harrowing terms to emerge from Ukraine.
Chernobyl, synonymous with the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe.
The 1986 explosion at the nuclear facility in what was then Soviet Ukraine was far more powerful than the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The Chernobyl disaster expelled intensely heated, highly radioactive graphite and debris, rendering parts of the restricted “exclusion zone” surrounding the decommissioned plant uninhabitable for tens of thousands of years.
If not for the courageous efforts of thousands of servicemen and emergency responders who curtailed a far worse disaster at Reactor Four, where uranium fuel rods melted into a massive “elephant foot,” much of Eastern Europe would have faced similar uninhabitability.
“For three months, I couldn’t get up; I could barely eat,” recounted 69-year-old Volodymyr Robovyk to Al Jazeera earlier this month, detailing his health struggles.
What have the US and Ukraine said?
During a phone discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, Trump suggested that the most effective way for Kyiv to safeguard its four nuclear power plants is by transferring them to the US.
“American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure,” Trump stated.
He also mentioned that Washington could be “very helpful in managing those plants with its electricity and utility expertise.”
Zelenskyy soon clarified that he and Trump “only talked about one power plant that is under Russian occupation.”
He referred to the Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, which previously supplied a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.
Occupied by Russia since 2022, all six of its reactors have been placed in a “cold shutdown” to halt energy generation and mitigate the risk of an explosion.
However, Kyiv is not inclined to relinquish control of the Zaporizhzhia plant to Washington.
“If they want to take it from the Russians, invest in it, modernize it, that’s a different discussion,” Zelenskyy stated during a news conference on Thursday as part of his state visit to Norway. “We’re not discussing a change of ownership.”
What do Ukrainians fear?
Many Ukrainians are concerned about the potential risk of a Russian provocation, such as an explosion, if and when Ukraine attempts to regain control of the plant following Trump’s suggestion.
“Of course, there is such danger,” remarked Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces, in conversation with Al Jazeera.
He likened the situation to the June 2023 explosion that destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam, a critical water supply for the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Kyiv accused Moscow of deliberately destroying the dam, labeling it as a “war crime” and “ecocide.”
Romanenko expressed concerns that Trump is exploiting Ukraine’s precarious military and economic situation to seize control of the plant, warning that Kyiv may pursue legal action against Washington to reclaim them in the future.
“Our memory serves well,” he stated. “We remember everything that belongs to Ukraine and will fight for what is ours.”
Conversely, a former staff member of the Zaporizhzhia plant alleviated his fears about the likelihood of a Russian provocation.
“I don’t believe that in this situation [the Russians] will intentionally damage the station’s components, as the station is a subject of negotiations and haggling,” explained an engineer who fled the plant in 2023 but maintains connections with former colleagues, who spoke to Al Jazeera under anonymity.
“The better its condition, the higher the price they can command if they’re negotiating a swap,” the engineer commented.
What’s the mood at the Zaporizhzhia plant?
The engineer noted that former colleagues who chose to collaborate with Rosatom, the Kremlin-controlled nuclear monopoly overseeing the plant, were anxious about Trump’s proposal.
However, upon learning that Washington has not signaled any military intervention to reclaim the plant, the mood among collaborators shifted to elation.
“There are mood swings,” the engineer observed.
Rosatom has long promised to relocate these employees to Russia or to the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant being constructed by Russia in southeastern Turkiye if Ukraine regains control of the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Additionally, there remains a risk of negligence by Russian servicemen guarding the facility.
In 2023, Al Jazeera published an exclusive report about the ethnic Chechen guards in Enerhodar, the town associated with the plant.
These guards reportedly ignored safety protocols, installing fences and machine guns within the plant and treating it as a “big concrete structure one can hide behind,” according to a former staff member.
If their negligence results in damage to one of the reactors or spent fuel storage facilities, an explosion akin to a “dirty” atomic bomb could occur, releasing a radioactive cloud over Ukraine and parts of Eastern Europe, another staff member warned to Al Jazeera.
What’s the role of Ukraine’s nuclear plants?
Before 2022, Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants generated nearly half of the nation’s electricity.
Their significance became especially crucial after Kyiv lost access to coal mines in the southeastern Donbas region.
Since 2022, Moscow has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with Putin only tentatively agreeing to cease these attacks earlier this week.
Shortly after Trump’s proposal was made public, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told Fox News that his agency possesses “immense technical expertise” to operate them.
“I don’t think that requires boots on the ground,” he stated.
Wright, with a background in engineering and natural gas, may not be the most qualified to operate Soviet-era reactors.
These reactors utilize uranium rods manufactured by Rosatom, but in 2005, Kyiv opted to switch to fuel from Westinghouse, a nuclear energy leader based in Pittsburgh.
In 2012, however, Westinghouse fuel caused damage to protective coatings in two reactors at the South Ukrainian power station.
Rosatom specialists were summoned to remove the rods, after which Putin claimed they had “solved complex technical problems.”
Westinghouse later redesigned the rods, and no further incidents were reported.
What are the wider concerns about the plants?
International observers are concerned about the outdated reactors in Ukraine.
Bankwatch, a Prague-based environmental organization, labeled them “zombie reactors” and urged Kyiv to close them down.
However, Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear energy monopoly, asserted to Al Jazeera in 2021 that Bankwatch “manipulated facts” and that his agency has effectively extended the lifespan of the reactors.
There are also significant worries regarding alleged corruption at Energoatom, characterized by opaque deals and the procurement of low-quality spare parts.
“They receive astonishing kickbacks. This is a team of marauders,” stated Olga Kosharna, a nuclear safety expert, in 2021 during her interview with Al Jazeera.
“What happens if there’s an equipment failure due to purchasing the wrong spare part?” she pondered.
