The defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant has allegedly become a Russian-controlled prison for the more than 200 staffers keeping the facility safe during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian troops have held 210 technicians and support staff hostage at the facility since the first few hours of the war in Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal. The staff arrived on the night of Feb. 23 for what was supposed to be a single night shift and have since spent more than 500 hours working almost nonstop under the aggression and gunpoint of Russian invaders.
The team is monitoring electrical transmission levels and temperatures inside the enormous New Safe Confinement structure, or “sarcophagus,” the WSJ noted. Since the Russians started their hostage situation, Chernobyl’s level of radiation leakage from the waste has risen as the plant’s power has flickered on and off, according to reports from Reuters and LiveScience.
Pumps required to push water over the plant’s nuclear fuel are now run on diesel generators as the high-voltage power lines connected to the cooling system have been cut so often during the fighting, the WSJ noted. “If the pumps do not work … the water in the pool may boil, which will lead to the formation of radioactive steam, followed by the melting of the fuel assemblies, which will lead to a severe accident,” a Ukrainian nuclear association memo stated, according to the WSJ.
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster – Abandoned City Buildings – Drone Aerial Footage. #Peace #PeaceInUkraine 🕊🕊🕊 pic.twitter.com/FKvsEiaGJL
— Gislaine🇧🇷🌸 (@magioliveira) March 9, 2022
A shift supervisor, Valentin Heiko, told managers via a telephone call accessed by the WSJ, that “the psychological situation is deteriorating,” inside the facility, “Everyone wants to go home, but we know we need to stay.” (RELATED: Chernobyl Power Plant Has Been Captured By The Russians, Ukrainian Official Says)
Staffer’s diets currently consist of porridge and canned goods prepared by a 70-year-old cook, who has collapsed from exhaustion at least once, the outlet reported. Staffers with thyroid problems and high blood pressure are not allowed to leave, despite needing medication.
Russian soldiers have allowed the staff one-minute phone calls with family, where they have complained of fatigue, nausea, dizziness and headaches, according to the outlet. A majority of the workers’ families live in Slavutych, a town built after the explosion of Reactor Number 4 in 1986, roughly 30 miles from the plant.
Russians encircled the town, keeping a majority of the families inside the borders. When warplanes approach, families honk car horns or ring church bells as a makeshift warning, according to the outlet. Multiple agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, have said that other than for the trapped workers, there is no need to be concerned about the Chernobyl plant.
Instead, the agency is more concerned about Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant, which is the largest nuclear reactor in Europe, the WSJ went on. Analysts are more concerned that the power outages could compromise the ventilation system at Chernobyl and expose staff to higher levels of radiation.