In the wake of Russia’s latest shelling at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, Ukraine’s nuclear agency, Energoatom, has issued a grave warning about what consequences can escalation at the nuclear site lead to.

The agency experts drew obvious comparisons with the Chernobyl disaster, arguing the stockpiles  of nuclear fuel  Zaporizhzhya has are 9-10 times higher, meaning  the consequences will be ’10 times more powerful than back in 1986 at Chernobyl’.

If things, God forbid,  go awry at Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, the projected radioactive fallout can potentially contaminate up to 30 thousand sq.m., which is  the area 10 times bigger then the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, making Zaporizhzhya region inhabitable and desolate. According to estimates, the contamination plume can cover up to 2 million sq.m. in Ukraine, Europe, and Russia.

Ukraine’s environment deputy minister Lala Tarapakina argues the scale of the tragedy can be enormous, claiming lives of tens of thousands and will require en masse evacuation of up to 2 million people.

Another possible, and inevitable, risk can come from radionuclides like cesium-137- spreading across Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe, they will contaminate soil, water bodies and will be harmful for human health.