By Yesica Fisch
Sloviansk, Ukraine - Russia and Ukraine traded claims (click here) of rocket and artillery strikes at or near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on Sunday, intensifying fears that the fighting could cause a massive radiation leak.
Ukraine’s atomic energy agency painted an ominous picture of the threat Sunday by issuing a map forecasting where radiation could spread from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which Russian forces have controlled since soon after the war began.
Attacks were reported over the weekend not only in Russian-controlled territory adjacent to the plant along the left bank of the Dnieper River, but along the Ukraine-controlled right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the facility.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had attacked the plant twice over the past day, and that shells fell near buildings storing reactor fuel and radioactive waste....
Real world evidence, please. The global community seemed to have their own significant evidence at the NTP meeting. Shouting matches really don't matter. Where are the two nuclear lab persons taken to Belarus. No one has spoken to the kidnapping or worse by Russian soldiers.
Ukraine officially acceded to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state on December 5, 1994
The treaty became effective in March 1970 and was to remain so for a 25-year period. Additional countries later ratified the treaty; as of 2007 only three countries (India, Israel, and Pakistan) have refused to sign the treaty, and one country (North Korea) has signed and then withdrawn from the treaty.
Currently only five countries have not signed NPT which are, India, Pakistan, Israel, South Sudan and North Korea.
China: Accession to Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) On July 1, 1968, the Treaty was signed at Washington in the name of the Republic of China. An instrument of ratification of the Treaty on behalf of the Republic of China was deposited at Washington on January 27, 1970.
The NPT has no veto rights by the five nuclear powers. It is not controlled by the UN Security Council.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Remains Strong Despite Russian Obstructionism. After weeks of intensive but productive negotiations, the Russian Federation alone decided to block consensus on a final document at the conclusion of the Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
I really think a high profile visit to the Ukraine nuclear reactors needs to include an energy minister from Russia, Ukraine and the IAEA. It should seek to settle this dispute and put forward the neutral country that will oversee the reactors and shut them down until this war is ended. Taking custody of the reactors by a neutral global power should allow Russia to return to the NPT without complaints.
These reactors are in a war zone of which Russia admits it is a special military operation, hence, things going boom. So, the idea of a neutral party taking custody of the reactors to provide protections for human beings in the area and beyond is highly reasonable.
