Iodine pills and emergency plans: Zaporizhia residents prepare for a possible nuclear disaster

We must not rule out the worst, a new nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine.

The UN insistently warns it in the midst of the current war.

For this reason, the authorities are preparing around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in the southeast of the country.

It is the largest in Europe and the scene of intense fighting since the Russian invasion in February.

The main objective is to safeguard the most vulnerable population, which lives within a radius of 50 kilometers around these facilities.

To this end, a training, information and safeguard mechanism has been put in place that includes the distribution of iodine pills, which help combat radiation damage to the body in the event of a nuclear disaster.

Alexander, 62, holds between his fingers the four that he has just collected along with the instructions for use in Tomakivka,

a population 35 kilometers in a straight line from the plant.

“I take them for my grandchildren, because, at my age, I don't think they will do me much anymore,” she explains with a certain indifference before leaving the municipal offices.

Ukraine still keeps the memory of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 very fresh. Immersed in today's conflict, the authorities have learned the lesson of that accident and the one that took place in Fukushima (Japan) in 2011, explains Taras Tishchenko, responsible regional office in Zaporizhia of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.

But the situation is extremely serious and the risk of an accident has increased "significantly," warned Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN agency, on Friday.

The Chernobyl disaster was unforeseen and, now, kyiv has been preparing the ground for months in case something similar happens.

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The war has caused the routine of recent years to be blown up in the Zaporizhia laboratory that is responsible for measuring radiation levels.

Before, they did it once a day;

now every two hours, explains Tishchenko.

The results obtained are shared with the Government and regional authorities.

“We are prepared for any event and to take the necessary measures”, he affirms without hiding, at the same time, that uncertainty is a burden, since “the population is worried about not knowing what will happen”.

The emergency and health services are on alert and, on a daily basis, direct notifications to the population work, including through social networks.

The authorities know, from the direction in which the wind usually blows, that the radioactive cloud would travel through the air almost in all probability to the west, that is, towards the Kherson and Odessa regions and, later, to the border with Moldova. .

Alexander, 62, collects iodine pills to combat the effects of excess radiation in a municipal building in Tomakivka, 36 kilometers from the Zaporizhia plant. Luis De Vega Hernández

The visit to the facilities of the Zaporizhia laboratory, which seem anchored in time, is a trip to the past.

Excessive rates of radiation can be detected in the soil, the air or food, says Dr. Liuvob Lemeshko, 60, who has worked here for more than a quarter of a century.

Scientist Mijailo Kostianetski, a specialist in radioactive hygiene, remembers well at 74 the Chernobyl nuclear tragedy, five years before Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union.

He was one of the

who, for a dozen days, was cleaning up the contaminated remains of the plant, which is located 150 kilometers north of Kiev, the capital.

Doctor Kostianetski reassuringly explains that Zaporizhia, where he has worked since 1973, is "more protected, the reactors are more modern and the dome that covers them is more solid".

"It is not easy to destroy it by an explosion, so it is much more difficult for the radiation to get out," he adds, while he recalls that it is better prepared against tsunamis and other natural catastrophes.

Turning on his white coat, the specialist shows in his office the three works that he has written in recent years and that relate his work in the Zaporizhia laboratory with what happened in Chernobyl.

Asked if the radiation caused a dent in his health, he replies with laughter that he is perfectly fine.

In a tone closer to the prevailing alarm,

Taras Tishchenko also points out that the situation in Ukraine today is "completely different" from Chernobyl.

“Now we have the Russian military, which does not comply with international laws and places its equipment and its people next to the reactors, threatening the world with blowing them up.

It is without a doubt nuclear terrorism”, concludes the regional head of Health.

An explosion at the Zaporizhia plant could release radioactive iodine into the atmosphere, which multiplies the risk of thyroid cancer, something that already happened in Chernobyl.

The pills that are being distributed among the population and that have to be consumed once only in case of an accident, help prevent the excessive concentration of iodine in the thyroid gland by expelling it through the urine.

"Potassium iodide is taken as prophylaxis, a dose of 125 milligrams, enough so that the thyroid does not absorb the iodine," explains the regional head of the Ministry of Health.

It is ingested, and then you have to put on the mask and stay inside the buildings, with the windows and doors closed and the air conditioning turned off.

They recommend having food and water for several days.

Next,

Mikhaylo Kostyanetsky, a 74-year-old specialist in radioactive hygiene, is one of the employees of the laboratory in charge of measuring the radiation around the Zaporizhia plant and was a 'liquidator' at the Chernobyl plant after the 1986 accident. Luis De Vega Hernández

The IAEA considers that the situation in Ukraine is "unsustainable", calls for an end to the fighting in this sensitive area and calls for the "urgent" establishment of a security zone around the Zaporizhia power plant, according to a report published on Tuesday following a mission to the facility earlier this month.

Two of his inspectors remained inside, side by side with the local employees who continue to work under the supervision of the Kremlin occupants.

Both Russians, who occupy the plant with men and weapons, and Ukrainians accuse each other in the middle of the attacks of endangering the inhabitants.

Without assigning blame, the IAEA denounces that it is an "unprecedented" war,

All this has triggered fear in the Zaporizhia region.

The members of the Tomakivka evacuation commission are aware of this, with a population of 7,500 inhabitants, to which are now added 1,500 refugees from the war.

This is explained by Tamara Sherbiak, 58, who leads this organization that has existed for five years and was created in case there was a problem at the plant.

Many of these new neighbors have come from towns around the installations that have been affected by the attacks between the two armies.

"Even if we have the iodine pills, we are worried," says Yana, 29, who learned of the distribution through the Telegram social network.

Pavlo, 69, fled on September 2 from Energodar, a town occupied by Russian troops where the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located. Luis De Vega Hernández

The command of the Ukrainian army has not allowed EL PAÍS access to Nikopol this week.

This town is located just opposite the plant, separated only by four kilometers wide from the Dnieper River, and is constantly subject to Russian attacks.

In addition to Nikopol and Tomakivka, controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, the pills are being distributed in other towns under Russian occupation such as Vasilivka, Kamianka-Dniprovska or Energodar, a municipality where the Zaporizhia plant is located, on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River.

Since the beginning of March, with the aim of controlling the plant, a critical and strategic infrastructure in the invasion ordered by Moscow, the Russian military took Energodar.

Pavlo managed to escape from there on September 2, 69, who is now one of the newly displaced from Tomakivka.

“They let me out because of the UN visit.

Before, people have been waiting up to 10 or 12 days to leave," he explains, referring to the fact that the Russians have had a certain loose sleeve coinciding with the IAEA's mission when letting neighbors who wanted to leave the town leave.

“There is a lot of shelling on Energodar.

When the Ukrainians shoot, the shots are accurate and fall specifically on military equipment.

But when the Russians fire, they do so randomly and houses are burned.

Every night there were bombings near me, ”adds the man, drawing the movement of the projectiles in the air with a fuss.

Outside, in Tomakivka Square, the vision of the conflict offered by Zinaida, 75, and her sister-in-law, Vera, 80, is broader.

The number of young women being widowed by the war reminds them of the time when their parents stood up to Nazi Germany.

"This is terrible.

It shouldn't be repeated”, Zinaida affirms regretfully and in tears.

Zinaida, 75, laments in Tomakivka Square the risk of living next to the nuclear power plant. Luis De Vega Hernández

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