Nuclear industry must be aware of conflict risk

Countries that lack the ability to protect sites should think carefully about nuclear buildout

Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant—the largest in Europe—has underlined the risk that civilian reactors could become military targets, raising questions about nuclear buildout in countries that lack the ability to protect such sites, delegates heard at an energy and climate tech conference in Tokyo in early October. Russia captured the 5.7GW Zaporizhzhia station in March shortly after invading Ukraine, but Ukrainian technicians continued to operate it until they shut down the last of the facility’s six reactors last month. On Wednesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree that designated the power plant as Russian property, permitting Moscow to operat