How a second Chernobyl nuclear disaster was avoided in 2022

IN THE SMALL On February 24, 2022, Valentyn Heiko received a phone call at work. Gunfire could be heard in Vilcha, less than 50 km away: the Russian invasion of Ukraine was underway. “We are keeping calm for now,” Mr Heiko told his colleague, even though there were no guidelines for what workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant should do in the event of war. The invaders were coming – Chernobyl was on the route from Belarus, a Russian staging post, to Kiev – and yet there was no question of Mr Heiko or his team leaving their stations either.