Excerpts from an AP article about Ukrainian schools built underground to protect against bombs and radiation

ZAPORIZHY, Ukraine (AP) – Most of the Russian weapons that hit the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye kill instantly: drones, ballistic missiles, glide bombs, artillery shells. But Russian soldiers control another weapon they have never used, with potential equally deadly: the nearby nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye.

As is known, the nuclear power plant once produced more electricity than any other nuclear power plant in Europe. It fell into the hands of Russian forces in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, and Russia has maintained its six reactors ever since. The plant was subject to repeated attacks by both sides blame the other.

These twin dangers – bombs and radiation – shadow families in Zaporozhye. An Associated Press team spent nearly a week in the city to learn about its determination to build the future: an underground school system.

Here’s what Access point found: :

About 50 kilometers away is the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on cold shutdown for two years after intense negotiations between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Russian government. The IAEA changed a a handful of staff on site since then.

The risk exists even in the event of a cold shutdown, when the reactor is running but not producing power. The main danger is that external electrical power, coming from territory controlled by Ukrainians and under constant Russian bombardment, will be cut off for periods longer than the generators can withstand.

A nuclear power plant needs electricity to operate key reserves, including water pumps to prevent meltdowns, radiation monitors and other essential safety systems. Russia has repeatedly hit Ukraine’s network, and these attacks have intensified this year. Underscoring the ongoing threat, power to the nuclear plant was cut again for three days as rescuers tried to extinguish the fire.

The Zaporozhye power plant has a safer and more modern design than Chernobyl, known in Russian as Chernobyl, and the danger of a large-scale meltdown of the plant is not the same, experts say. But this does not reduce the risk to zero.

Most of the city’s youngest residents have never seen the inside of a classroom. Schools, which suspended face-to-face classes almost four years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic, continued online classes after the war broke out in February 2022.

The construction of several underground schools has begun, which will be resistant to radiation and bombs and capable of educating 12,000 students.

The cost of building an underground school system is enormous – the budget of the underground version of Junior High School No. 71 alone is over UAH 112 million ($2.7 million). Most of the funding is provided by international donors, and national and local authorities have made it a priority on par with funding the army.

But most parents say the bombs that hit the city every day cause a much more tangible fear than radiation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russia of They deliberately attack nuclear power plants. Russian forces took control of Chernobyl area in the first days of the invasion, only to be driven back by Ukrainian forces.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has repeatedly referred to its stockpiles of nuclear weapons without eliminating immediate threats. In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would consider any attack by a country backed by a nuclear-armed nation as a joint attack, and stressed that Russia could respond with nuclear weapons against any attack that would pose a “critical threat to our sovereignty.”

Ukrainian officials fear that Russian attacks on Chernobyl and the Zaporozhye nuclear power plants may be just the beginning. During his speech in late September to UN General Assembly, Zelensky warned that Russia is preparing attacks on more nuclear power plants that produce a large part of Ukraine’s electricity.

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The Associated Press receives nuclear security coverage from Carnegie Corporation of New York AND Outrider Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: