When the Ukrainian military entered the area of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant abandoned by the Russian occupiers on April 2, they discovered something unheard of. We saw evidence that the Russian military had been indeed digging trenches in the Red Forest, cooking with firewood and living in abandoned houses filled with radioactive dust.
This has given rise to several jokes and many memes, but also to an important question: if the Russian military were stupid enough not to realize the risks of radiation in the Chornobyl zone, how gigantic is the danger they pose to the Ukrainian nuclear facilities and therefore to Europe?
Although the Chornobyl nuclear power plant has returned under the Ukrainian control, the Europe’s largest Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is still under the Russian occupation. The Russian military were foolish enough to start fighting in the area of the nuclear power plant and fire at its premises with incendiary shells. One can expect anything from the barbarians of the 21st century.
So far, little can be done: to monitor the situation, to believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainian nuclear power plant employees at Enerhodar, as well as to let the world and international organizations know the truth, so that they, in turn, put pressure on russia and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the nuclear power plant area.
Ukrainian environmental organizations from among institutional grantees from among institutional grantees of the Environmental Initiative of the Foundation, too, are involved in international advocacy and awareness-raising about the Russian threat to the world’s nuclear security. “Ekodia”, “SaveDnipro”, “Stop poisoning Kryvyi Rih” and “Flora” are working to ensure that the civilized world does not allow the barbarians to destroy the nuclear facilities.
The material below is about what our grantees are doing for this.
NGO “Save Dnipro” (SaveDnipro)
When the occupiers captured the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant on February 24, it was the SaveDnipro pollution map that became the source of information on the increase in the radiation background in the area. The military equipment traveled through the area, raising radioactive dust. Thanks to the monitoring carried out by the activists, media all over the world learned about this problem.
Today, the SaveEcoBot map, as a source of information about this pollution, is used even by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Thanks to cooperation with government officials, it was possible to increase the number of measurement points. The data can be checked both on the map and through the bot in Telegram. All data comes in almost real time.
Data are collected daily automatically or manually by specialists, even in the most dangerous settlements. Today, there are 514 measurement points across the country: 453 state (MoH, Ukrhydrometcenter, etc.) and 61 public (EcoCity, DTEK, etc.) data sources. Unfortunately, there are no indicators directly from the Ukrainian nuclear power plants and the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, but measuring instruments cover the areas near them.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the seizure of and barbaric actions at the Chornobyl NPP and Zaporizhzhia NPP, activists recorded a deterioration of the radiation background. Open and accessible data will allow timely and adequate response to danger, as well as help to avoid information vacuum, panic among people, etc.
NGO “Stop poisoning Kryvyi Rih”
The issue of nuclear danger arose for the initiative “Stop poisoning Kryvyi Rih” in the broader context of environmental crimes. Since the beginning of the war, the team has been gathering information about russia’s environmental crimes in Ukraine, and they consider the seizure of nuclear power plants as one of the most egregious examples.
The activists gather all available information about the behavior of the Russians at nuclear facilities, systematize it and help convey it to foreign audiences, including through communication with foreign journalists.
The team turns some challenges into opportunities. For example, Olena Shafranova, the coordinator of the initiative, was forced to leave Ukraine and is temporarily in the Czech Republic. But that is what allowed her to build new ties in Europe and to tell Europeans even more about the threat to Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Olena is currently providing her comments and her materials are published in the Austrian press, as the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is responsible for nuclear safety, are located in Vienna.
Olena, together with local activists, also plans to hold a direct event under the IAEA office to draw even more attention to the problem. According to the experts of the initiative “Stop poisoning Kryvyi Rih”, the IAEA is not doing enough, as the Russians have taken hostage not only the staff of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, but also the whole of Europe and its security. Therefore, they demand that the IAEA at least recognizes russia as a nuclear terrorist and makes every effort to force the Russians leave the stations.
NGO “Flora”
In a town with the Ukraine’s largest active uranium mine, environmental activists are well aware of the dangers of nuclear danger. For more than a year now, “Flora” has been researching the environmental impact of the nuclear industry, monitoring the work of mines in the Kirovohrad Region and literally shouting about all the potential dangers posed by uranium mining. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, “Flora” has been monitoring the operation of the mines, studying the state of water resources and the radiation background.
After the first news about the Russian seizure of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the shelling of the station, the “Flora” team got a standard dosimeter and began taking measurements around the town. Iryna Muntian, “Flora’s” Deputy Executive Director, explains that in the first weeks there was a risk that the supervisory authorities would work with interferences or would not have access to energy supplies or stationary posts that take measurements. That is why the organization decided to measure the gamma background throughout the whole town, making sure that there were no serious threats.
Having carried out an awareness campaign to the residents of the town of Kropyvnytskyi on ‘effect’ of the iodine grid, “Flora” undertook to check the water resources of Kropyvnytskyi. “Flora” insists that access to clean drinking water is important even during a war.
In parallel, the organization monitors the work of uranium mines. “Flora” is best acquainted with the problems at the Inhulska mine – power outages and shelling of the town threaten to shut down the mine. Iryna explains that if the mine “stops”, it will first be flooded with water, the constant circulation of which is necessary for the operation of the enterprise. The same water will flow into the soil along with waste, polluting groundwater, entering the Inhul River, the water supply line and wells in the town. And uranium-flavored tea tastes bad in every way. An additional threat is radon emissions, which annually make Kropyvnytskyi one of the leaders in cancer in Ukraine. Therefore, monitoring the work of the mine and the constant monitoring of the water quality in the town – that is the watch “Flora” are keeping in their hometown.
Center for Environmental Initiatives “Ecodiia” (Ecoaction)
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, “Ecodiia”, like all of us, has been trying to understand, where their front of the struggle lies. On their information platforms, the organization explained what threatens the seizure of nuclear power plants, damage to energy supplies to the station and how russia uses nuclear energy to increase its international influence. Separately, the organization communicated threats to nuclear energy as such. Nataliia Hozak, the Ecodiia’s Executive Director, says that even in Ukraine there are people who survived the Chornobyl disaster and still consider nuclear energy to be completely safe and climate-neutral.
“Ecodiia” experts have also initiated dozens of interviews with foreign and Ukrainian media outlets, commenting on the situation with the seizure of nuclear power plants. Nataliia Hozak explains that at that time it was very important to clearly explain both the situation itself and its possible consequences for the whole world, so that no country would stand aside. As they say in the organization: “The backdrop of our daily work is meetings, meetings and meetings again”.
In general, the situation with the seizure of the Ukrainian nuclear power plants is called at “Ecodiia” nuclear terrorism, and russia’s nuclear energy is one of the tools in the war against Ukraine. In March, the organization sent an open letter to the United States, the European Union and other countries cooperating with russia in the field of nuclear energy. Together with NGOs from the Energy Transition Coalition, they called for an end to all cooperation with russia’s state corporation “Rosatom” and its subsidiaries, impose sanctions on the holding company and its management, and ban the import of Russian nuclear fuel. In this way, the world will be able to deprive russia of its share of energy influence and money for armaments, and in addition – to get closer to abandoning the dangerous industry.
The Environmental Policy and Advocacy Initiative for Ukraine (EPAIU) is implemented by the International Renaissance Foundation with a support of Sweden. The main goal is to develop a cohort of CSOs (civil society organizations),which are institutionally capable, transparently governed, accountable, recognized by environmental organizations that promote values of clean and healthy environment, capable of understanding environmental issues and advocating for the integration of environmental issues into public policies and local strategic development programs.
