Putin is not alone, and history is repeating itself – beyond WW II. In Norway, where radiation from Chernobyl was still affecting livestock such as reindeer decades after the disaster, defence officials have reportedly advised citizens to "dust off" Cold War-era bunkers.It even answers POTUS’ recent-wish, given our policy of no-regime change, of Mr. The accident in 1986 forced the evacuation of entire communities around the plant and is believed to have contaminated 200,000 square kilometres of Europe. While the UN nuclear watchdog has expressed concern about the situation, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said Chernobyl is unlikely to be an imminent safety threat to the world.Ī greater concern would be if Ukraine's four operational, modern nuclear plants got caught up in the fighting.īut the memory of Chernobyl still looms large for many Europeans.
When Russian forces seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the early stages of the recent invasion, Ukraine's President warned it could lead to another catastrophe at the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. ( ABC News: Bradley McLennan) Europe fears risk of nuclear accident The eerie underground tunnel gives a glimpse of what a 1960s fallout shelter would have been like. Instead, they are intended to shield from "fallout" - radioactive materials sent up into the atmosphere and then potentially carried long distances before falling back to earth. The fallout shelters Americans forgotĪmerica's Cold War-era shelters were not designed to protect from the direct impact of a nuclear blast. The US has repeatedly ruled out sending troops into Ukraine or enforcing a no-fly zone over the country, out of fear it would further escalate the risk of nuclear retaliation. "We haven't seen anything that's made us adjust our posture, our nuclear posture," Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to President Joe Biden, recently told reporters. "And that makes them more tempting to reach for in a crisis."Īt present, hundreds of US satellites and spacecraft are monitoring Russia for any signs of further escalation but have not spotted anything of concern. "But because they are less destructive than the really big nuclear weapons, there's a perception that they could be more usable. "So, there's nothing small about these tactical nuclear weapons. "They would still create a mushroom cloud, they would have a massive explosive power, they would create a giant fireball, and they would release tonnes of radioactivity and people within a certain radius would get burned to death, and then would be exposed to radiation," she said. The move was labelled a "totally unacceptable" escalation by the US and led to a flurry of anxious stockpiling not seen since former US president Donald Trump boasted he had a "much bigger and more powerful button" than North Korea's Kim Jong-un. LIVE UPDATES: Read our blog for the latest news on the Russian invasion of Ukraine Within days, he put Russia's nuclear forces on high alert, increasing its arsenal's readiness to launch. "Whoever tries to interfere with us should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history," he warned. In February, when Russian President Vladimir Putin officially declared war on Ukraine, his pre-recorded message contained an ominous warning some read as a nuclear threat. 'Putin has raised the spectre of nuclear war' ( ABC News: Bradley McLennan)īut as Russia holds out the threat of using nuclear weapons amid its invasion of Ukraine, the relationship between Washington and Moscow has reached a new breaking point.Īnd old anxieties are rising to the surface. These medical and sanitary supplies have been gathering dust underground for decades.
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