{"id":51839,"date":"2022-04-26T07:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T19:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=51839"},"modified":"2025-06-05T07:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T19:34:11","slug":"chernobyl-putins-war-in-ukraine-renews-nuclear-dangers-and-memories-of-1986-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/chernobyl-putins-war-in-ukraine-renews-nuclear-dangers-and-memories-of-1986-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Chernobyl: Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine renews nuclear dangers and memories of 1986 disaster\ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Tuesday 26 April marks the anniversary of one of the most significant events in the history of Ukraine and all of Europe.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/chornobyl-1986-nuclear-war-ukraine-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">On that day in 1986<\/a>, a routine safety test at reactor 4 of the Chornobyl (previously also known as Chernobyl) nuclear power plant resulted in an explosion and a nuclear chain reaction that obliterated the nuclear core and reactor site, causing a colossal release of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>The radioactive material,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/inis.iaea.org\/collection\/NCLCollectionStore\/_Public\/28\/058\/28058918.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">400 times greater<\/a>&nbsp;than the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, was airborne and generated a radioactive plume which spread not only over the nearby town of Priypyat, south to Kyiv and across the then USSR (including modern-day Ukraine, Russia and Belarus), but more broadly across Europe to Hungary, Poland, Germany, Austria, Sweden and even as far as Canada. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/04\/9d4ee174-gp03123_web_size.jpg\" alt=\"Abandoned baby shoes in a Pripyat kindergarten.\" class=\"wp-image-53462\"\/><figcaption>Abandoned baby shoes in a Pripyat kindergarten. \u00a9 Vaclav Vasku \/ Greenpeace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p>Attempts to contain and decontaminate the disaster required over half a million people and total costs of the disaster have been estimated at over USD&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/globalhealth.usc.edu\/2016\/05\/24\/the-financial-costs-of-the-chernobyl-nuclear-power-plant-disaster-a-review-of-the-literature\/\" target=\"_blank\">$700 billion<\/a>. Water, air and earth&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wilsoncenter.org\/blog-post\/kate-brown-uncovering-realities-chernobyl-accident\" target=\"_blank\">remain poisoned for generations<\/a>&nbsp;and the most irradiated areas will&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/World\/Global-News\/2016\/0424\/Chernobyl-will-be-unhabitable-for-at-least-3-000-years-say-nuclear-experts\">remain uninhabitable<\/a>&nbsp;for thousands of years: the human and environmental fallout was colossal, and its extent&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/47384\/nuclear-do-we-need-a-new-chernobyl\/\" target=\"_blank\">may never fully be understood<\/a>. The nuclear disaster of 26 April 1986 is still the worst in history and is a day that lives in infamy in the minds of people not just in Ukraine but all over the world.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An ongoing danger<\/h2>\n\n<p>Today, some 36 years later, ordinary Ukrainians face yet another horror: the Kremlin\u2019s illegal and bloody invasion of Ukraine has already taken a terrible human toll, and has already seen Ukrainian nuclear power facilities come under military threat.<\/p>\n\n<p>Indeed, the contrast and parallels between today and 1986 are profound. In 2022, the Kremlin sent its military to seize Chornobyl as part of their war to destroy Ukraine; in 1986 it sent hundreds of thousands of troops in an attempt to manage the nuclear disaster that threatened to destroy even larger areas of Ukraine and wider Europe. In efforts to prevent heavy radioactive fallout hitting Moscow, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theecologist.org\/2019\/nov\/20\/where-wind-blows\">decision<\/a>&nbsp;was taken within a few days of the start of the 1986 disaster to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/russia-diverted-chernobyl-rain-says-scientist-qgt2mwbj5rh\" target=\"_blank\">seed clouds<\/a>&nbsp;with silver iodide that led to high levels of radioactivity contaminating Belarus and southern Russia. The Kremlin made&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/595cefb4d64896ee1a422caa6c1b88d2\" target=\"_blank\">no mention of the scale of the nuclear disaster<\/a>&nbsp;to the thousands of&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/4313139\/post-chernobyl-parade\/\" target=\"_blank\">people<\/a>&nbsp;in Kyiv taking part in the May day celebrations.<\/p>\n\n<p>The recent&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/snriu.gov.ua\/storage\/app\/sites\/1\/uploaded-files\/%D0%A1%D0%97%20eng.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">seizure<\/a>&nbsp;by Russian troops of the Chornobyl nuclear site threatened the safety of the workers and the radioactive waste stored there: the facility&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/03\/559dfc6b-nuclear-power-plants-in-military-conflict-yuzhnoukrainsk-south-ukraine-briefing.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">lost off site<\/a>&nbsp;electricity on 9 March, and with diesel generators only providing enough power for 48 hours of operations, it was a race against time to resupply power.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A danger among dangers&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n<p>Greenpeace has worked on the fallout, legacy and lessons from Chornobyl for decades \u2013 in April 2020, it was&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/30198\/chornobyl-still-burns-forest-fires-ukraine-nuclear-radiation\/\" target=\"_blank\">forest fires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone<\/a>&nbsp;that raised the threat level there yet again. But the unprecedented extent of the nuclear threat posed by Vladimir Putin\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine goes well beyond Chornobyl.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/04\/629b3aa2-gp1sttzn_web_size.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53466\"\/><figcaption>A forest fire burns near Krasiatychi town, 60 km from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, in 2020. \u00a9 Oksana Parafeniuk \/ Greenpeace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p>Every day that the Kremlin\u2019s war goes on, Ukraine\u2019s commercial nuclear reactors at four operating power plants \u2014 Rivne,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/nuclear-power-plants-in-military-conflict-yuzhnoukrainsk-south-ukraine-briefing\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yurzhnoukrainsk<\/a>, Khmeinityskyi and Europe\u2019s largest at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/nuclear-power-plant-vulnerability-during-military-conflict-ukraine-technical-briefing\/\" target=\"_blank\">Zaporizhzhia<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 are at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/campaign\/russian-military-threat-ukraine-nuclear-reactors-facilities\/\" target=\"_blank\">risk of potentially catastrophic damage<\/a>. While the Russian military occupation of the Chornobyl site&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/snriu.gov.ua\/en\/news\/chornobyl-npp-facilities-current-situation-april-01-2022\" target=\"_blank\">ended<\/a>, for the time being, on 31 March 2022, an attack or even an accident at any of the other plants could render vast areas of the European continent, including Russia, uninhabitable for decades.<\/p>\n\n<p>Zaporizhzhia remains under armed Russian military occupation. Officials from the Russian state nuclear corporation, ROSATOM,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iaea.org\/newscenter\/pressreleases\/update-39-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine\" target=\"_blank\">involved<\/a>&nbsp;in the illegal&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/belsat.eu\/en\/news\/15-03-2022-rosatom-admits-helping-seize-zaporizhzhia-and-chernobyl-npps\/\" target=\"_blank\">seizure<\/a>&nbsp;of Chornobyl during March, also remain at the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/campaign\/russian-military-threat-ukraine-nuclear-reactors-facilities\/\" target=\"_blank\">Zaporizhzia<\/a>&nbsp;site. This is a unique event in the history of nuclear power, and a direct threat to nuclear safety. The potential for a major nuclear disaster triggered by the Russian war on Ukraine at the six reactors at the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/03\/6805cdd2-nuclear-power-plant-vulnerability-during-military-conflict-ukraine-technical-briefing.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Zaporizhzia<\/a>&nbsp;site, and other operating&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/03\/559dfc6b-nuclear-power-plants-in-military-conflict-yuzhnoukrainsk-south-ukraine-briefing.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">reactors<\/a>&nbsp;are even greater than at Chornobyl.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not safe, not green<\/h2>\n\n<p>Despite the evidence of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/52758\/reasons-why-nuclear-energy-not-way-green-and-peaceful-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the risks of nuclear power<\/a>, industry actors continue to promote it as a safe, green and sustainable solution to the climate emergency. The European Commission\u2019s desire to officially&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/46036\/taxonomy-nuclear-gas-attempted-robbery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">grant nuclear power a \u2018green\u2019 label<\/a>&nbsp;(along with fossil gas) by including it in the EU\u2019s taxonomy of sustainable investments makes a mockery of the recent threats at the Zaporizhzhia power plant and across Ukraine, as well as the countless thousands&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sortirdunucleaire.org\/IMG\/pdf\/largej-greenpeace-2006-05-09-chernobyl-a_nuclear_catastrophe_20_years_on-a_review_of_the_present_situation_in_ukraine.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">displaced<\/a>&nbsp;by the Chornobyl disaster, or the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/GRL_TR_02-2016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">millions<\/a>&nbsp;who continue to live in areas of high radioactive contamination in Ukraine and beyond.<\/p>\n\n<p>Ignorance, deliberate obfuscation and distortion of reality is at the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldnuclearreport.org\/IMG\/pdf\/wnisr2021-lr.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">core<\/a>&nbsp;of how the nuclear industry operates. It promises much but fails to deliver and all the time it relies on withholding vital information. It was how the Soviet government in Moscow failed to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1986\/08\/26\/world\/design-flaws-known-to-moscow-called-major-factor-at-chernobyl.html\" target=\"_blank\">disclose<\/a>&nbsp;the inherent design flaws in the RBMK reactor design that meant the Chornobyl disaster was inevitable. The half-life of radioactivity such as cesium, strontium and plutonium, runs in parallel to the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sc\/pr\/top-westinghouse-nuclear-executive-charged-conspiracy-fraud-16-count-federal-indictment\" target=\"_blank\">half truths<\/a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2019\/04\/22\/136020\/how-greed-and-corruption-blew-up-south-koreas-nuclear-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\">nuclear<\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/42704842\" target=\"_blank\">&nbsp;industry.<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Every year on 26 April, Ukraine and Europe remembers the great cost of both the false promises of nuclear energy and the betrayal of the Kremlin. This year, under the shadow of Putin\u2019s heinous war, the weight of that cost feels heavier than ever.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<section\n\t\t\tclass=\"boxout post-51146 \"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Image\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"cover-card-overlay\"\n\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/petition\/petition-freeze-russian-oligarch-assets-in-aotearoa\/\" \n\t\t\t><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-1024x580.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-600x340.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-1024x580.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-1536x869.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-2048x1159.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-510x289.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/03\/3742d3ce-peace-flag-scaled-e1652390427565.jpg 1000w\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(min-width: 1000px) 358px, (min-width: 780px) 313px, 88px\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\talt=\"\" title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n            \t\t\t<div class=\"boxout-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"boxout-heading medium\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Title\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/petition\/petition-freeze-russian-oligarch-assets-in-aotearoa\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETITION: Freeze Russian oligarch assets in Aotearoa\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"boxout-excerpt\">In the name of peace, call on the New Zealand Government to freeze the assets of Russian billionaire oligarchs to pressure Vladimir Putin to call off the Russian Military invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t                                    <a\n                        class=\"btn btn-primary\"\n                        data-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n                        data-ga-action=\"Call to Action\"\n                        data-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n                        href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/petition\/petition-freeze-russian-oligarch-assets-in-aotearoa\/\"\n                        \n                    >\n                        Take Action\n                    <\/a>\n                \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tuesday 26 April marks the anniversary of one of the most significant events in the history of Ukraine and all of Europe.&nbsp;On that day in 1986, a routine safety test&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":51840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"Chernobyl: Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine renews nuclear dangers and memories of 1986 disaster","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[43,114],"p4-page-type":[6],"class_list":["post-51839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-peace","tag-nuclear","p4-page-type-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chernobyl: Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine renews nuclear dangers and memories of 1986 disaster\ufffc<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/chernobyl-putins-war-in-ukraine-renews-nuclear-dangers-and-memories-of-1986-disaster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chernobyl: Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine renews nuclear dangers and memories of 1986 disaster\ufffc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tuesday 26 April marks the anniversary of one of the most significant events in the history of Ukraine and all of Europe.&nbsp;On that day in 1986, a routine safety test&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/chernobyl-putins-war-in-ukraine-renews-nuclear-dangers-and-memories-of-1986-disaster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-25T19:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-04T19:34:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2022\/05\/3768f7e2-shoes-at-chornobyl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta 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