Letters | Attacks on nuclear complex during Ukraine war are inexcusable
- Readers discuss the possibility of damage to Europe’s largest atomic power complex, and the statements on China by the leading candidates to become the UK’s next prime minister
If this huge atomic installation is damaged, deadly radiation could spread across Europe and many parts of the northern hemisphere. The consequences are too ghastly to contemplate.
Any party attacking a civilian nuclear plant would be guilty of a crime against humanity. According to one study, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 affected 40 per cent of Europe and saw radioactive contamination in Asia and Africa.
The Zaporizhzhia plant is a huge nuclear complex of six atomic reactors, which, if breached or severely damaged, could trigger an escape of radioactive material. This plume of atomic particles could contaminate vast areas of land and water.
Firing shells or military ordinance in the area of a nuclear power plant violates the fundamental principle that the physical integrity of nuclear facilities must be maintained and kept safe at all times.
Nations in combat must realise that nuclear power plants are categorised as “installations containing dangerous forces” under international law and should never be attacked. Amid brutal scenes of devastation, let sanity prevail.