This is our nuclear crisis issue: how it feels in Ukraine to be living under a potential nuclear emergency on a daily basis. Below, in section three, we discuss how we’re personally preparing and the gear we’re using. THANK YOU for being a paid subscriber and helping us pay for it — and if you’re not, what are you waiting for?
Volodymyr Anfimov says he isn’t that worried about a nuclear catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), about 275 miles southeast of Kyiv.
Anfimov, 47, has to keep a cool head if he is to serve his city in the event of radiation exposure. He inherited his understanding of nuclear risks from his dad, who was based in the most famous nuclear plant of them all.
“My father worked in the Chernobyl Plant Station,” said Anfimov, a spokesperson for Kyiv’s Department of Environmental Protection and Adaptation to Climate Change. “He is a scientist. And I ask him, ‘Tell me, please. Should we be worried about it?’ He's a specialist in nuclear disasters and said, ‘Don't worry. For Kyiv, it should be okay.’ But of course, it would be a national disaster, and it’s on the back of our minds.”
Ukraine’s recent history is inseparable from the specter of nuclear disaster. The Chernobyl catastrophe of 1986, which rendered about 1,000 square miles uninhabitable, still looms large in the nation’s collective memory. Reports that the Russian army may have mined some portions of the ZNPP have renewed fears of a similar catastrophe.
Since the war, the department has been on constant watch. Their radiation monitors were installed because of concerns about Chernobyl and then Zaporizhzhia during the ongoing invasion. In the first weeks of the war, the Russians captured Chernobyl, which is still a power plant, though in the process of being decommissioned.
“The installation of these radiation monitoring stations was in response to interest from Kyivans,” said Anfimov’s colleague, Volodymyr Dundar, deputy director of the department. “Because… the initial stage [of the invasion included] the occupation of the Chernobyl power plant. And here in Kyiv, we have a lot of rumors and speculation about what's going on.
“We put these radiation monitoring stations in and gave access to Kyivians so they can check in one click to see that everything is okay.”
Zelenskyy returned from Turkey yesterday, along with five Ukrainian commanders from the Azovstal steelworks siege. The commanders were taken to Turkey as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia, and were originally not allowed back in Ukraine until the war was over.
Zelenskyy and the commanders stood in front of a crowd in Lviv last night and pledged that they would have a say in future battles.
Greetings folks, William here.
It has been a tense few weeks as the threat of nuclear meltdown at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been the talk of the town(s), Telegram, and everything in between. The Ukrainians accused the Russians of mining a key building at the power plant, setting off serious concerns about an emergency.
But Ukrainian spymaster Major General Kyrylo Budanov said recently that the immediate danger at the plant was receding.
"Sorry, I can't tell you what happened recently but the fact is that the threat is decreasing… This means that at least we have all together, with joint efforts, somehow postponed a technogenic catastrophe," he said.
While the imminent danger of radiation contamination at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant seems to have subsided – for now — the ongoing threat still remains.
On Thursday we talked to Cheryl Rofer, a retired nuclear scientist who spent 30 years as a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was a wealth of information on this topic and had much to say about what she calls the "misunderstood boogeyman," which is radiation.
As someone who has spent her life working around radiation, she is frustrated by the media's misunderstanding of it. "The six reactors at ZNPP are not at all like the Chernobyl reactor and cannot, CANNOT, have the same kind of accident," Rofer says.
According to her, Chernobyl did not have heavily reinforced concrete surrounding its reactors like the ZNPP does, nor did Chernobyl have stainless steel vessels to further contain them.
Rofer told me that we have a roughly 40% chance to get cancer in our lifetime, exposure to radiation in the event of a meltdown at ZNPP would barely change that value for the people of Ukraine. Once, after taking a radioactive medicine needed for a treatment of hers, she decided to calculate the exact percentage that the radioactive medicine would increase her cancer chances by. It went up only 1%, she exclaimed, laughing.
Even though Rofer said a cataclysmic event is unlikely, she believes the reason for the Ukrainian media emphasis on the ZNPP has been to rally the world's attention and discourage Russia from staging any provocation.
Here at The Counteroffensive we have worked out a series of operating procedures to follow in case a radiation contamination event happens. Our subscribers have graciously provided us with the necessary equipment needed to have a shot at surviving nuclear fallout (THANK YOU DOES NOT DO OUR GRATITUDE JUSTICE).
We have sets of hazmat suits, gas masks, and a Geiger counter — among other gear.
Ross modeling our hazmat equipment.
The standard CDC guidelines for radiation contamination and exposure are, in short, get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned.
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Stay inside. The CDC recommends staying inside for 24 hours to give time for the majority of radiation particles to settle. We have stocked water, emergency rations (MREs and Tim's ramen), and iodide tablets in the event we have to shelter in place.
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Stay tuned. There's some uncertainty here. Will the internet and phone networks stay up? Will the power go out? To deal with the variables out of our control, we have a charged battery for our devices, as well as solar panels. For communications, we have a satellite phone.
So in the event of a nuclear meltdown at ZNPP we WILL be doing our best to be reporting; bar a total electrical blackout and failure of our equipment.
And it’s thanks to you, our readers, that we have the gear we need to be prepared.
Today's Cat O' Conflict belongs to our colleague Ross. Her name is Bulka and greatly dislikes strangers.
Stay safe out there.
Best,
The Counteroffensive Team
This story was written by The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak, which publishes regular intimate stories on the war in Ukraine, live from Kyiv. You can keep up with The Counteroffensive by subscribing free or paid here.