September 9th, 2025 - Nuclear Sites Across Ukraine Raise Risk of Radiation Disaster

Inside a laboratory in Kharkiv, Ukraine, an experimental device called the Neutron Source holds several dozen pounds of enriched uranium — enough, experts warn, that if it were scattered, much of the city could be contaminated. The facility sits just 14 miles from the front line of Europe’s largest war in eight decades, and Ukrainian authorities say the building has been struck by Russian munitions 74 times.

“It’s scary but we are used to it,” said Oleksandr Bykhun, deputy chief engineer at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, Ukraine’s leading nuclear research center. The institute, which houses the Neutron Source, has faced repeated bombardments but continues to operate under tense conditions.

While global attention has largely focused on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, other sites across Ukraine — from research reactors to spent fuel storage facilities — also remain at risk. The longer the conflict continues, the higher the chance of a strike that could disperse radioactive material over a wide area. Many of these facilities have security measures, but they were not designed to withstand direct hits from large munitions.

Bruno Chareyron, a scientific adviser for the French nonprofit Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity, emphasized the danger: “It’s a situation which is very dangerous, and we are lucky that no nuclear accident occurred yet.” The threat is not theoretical. Russian attacks have previously damaged Chernobyl’s containment structures, and Zaporizhzhia’s reactors have repeatedly faced disruptions, including threats to their cooling systems.

The Kharkiv institute itself, which helped design the first Soviet atomic bombs, ceased working with weapons-grade uranium in 2010, sending most of its stockpile to Russia. Yet it still stores highly radioactive materials like the uranium in the Neutron Source, which is enriched to levels far beyond what is used in nuclear power plants. The device includes a large core and a 90-foot-long particle accelerator, funded in part by the United States in exchange for Ukraine surrendering bomb-grade uranium.

Repeated attacks have left the institute’s exterior vulnerable. Explosions rattle the control room daily, and a 2022 hit on a transformer station left the building in darkness for months. Scientists rely on backup systems to prevent critical failures, including freezing of cooling water that could damage uranium rods. “I just don’t understand what we are dealing with,” said Andriy Mytsykov, a chief engineer at the institute.

Despite the daily risks, scientists continue their work. Experiments with radioactive hydrogen for fusion energy proceed, and data collected will be presented at an upcoming conference. “They hit us,” said acting director Mykola Azaryenkov, “and we get up and go back to work.” The institute stands as a stark reminder of the nuclear dangers inherent in a war fought so close to highly radioactive materials.

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster) - Insinuate (verb, in-SIN-yuh-wayt) - To insinuate something (especially something bad or insulting) is to say it in a subtle or indirect way. Insinuate can also mean "to gradually make (oneself) a part of a group, a person's life, etc., often by behaving in a dishonest way."

Example: When the teacher questioned the students about their identical test answers, they knew she was insinuating that they had cheated.

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