Claim 2: The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Description

Russian ground forces launched a military action on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) on 3 – 4 March 2022. After a violent confrontation, the plant was forcibly seized by Russian forces. Since the Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia, various sources suggest that the ZNPP is being used to store military equipment. Moreover, the Russian forces appear to be using the ZNPP’s proximity as a shield to deter counter-battery fire onto their firing positions.

There was at least one direct attack on the Russian forces launched by Ukraine with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and small-munition strikes.

There have also been repeated instances of detonations reported at the plant and multiple occasions when the grid lines supplying power to the plant have been damaged or cut by shelling and other kinetic activity.

To the present day, there has been no nuclear incident or accident with radiological consequences that affect the public and the environment. Still, all activity observed over the reporting period suggests a precarious surrounding exists at the plant. Overall, nuclear safety has been compromised.

Claims by the Parties brought forward in the GROMADA Moot Court

Ukraine

Ukraine claims that based on its conduct at ZNPP and its surroundings, Russia violated international humanitarian law, in particular, the law of occupation, and human rights law.

Russia

Russia responds that the Russian activities surrounding the ZNPP were in conformity with international law.

Questions

The questions assessed under this claim:

What has happened in Zaporizhzhia?

What are the risks when combat zones are near nuclear power plants? What were the specific risks in Zaporizhzhia?

How are nuclear power plants protected in war?

Focus on the following sub-areas of international law…

Human rights

…are fundamental rights of all individuals, regardless of nationality, gender, ethnicity, or religion. Many universal and regional human rights treaties protect individual rights, such as the dignity of the individual, the right to life, the right to freedom of expression, or the right to a fair trial.

Ida Theilade

Professor at the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen; Consultant on conservation planning, REDD+ as well as rainforest rehabilitation

Gabriel Rojas

Intern at Systasis; Master Student at the University of Cologne

Mentors

Witness

Shaun Burnie

Senior nuclear specialist at Greenpeace

Testimonials

Aleksas Vinskas

Participant, Lithuania

It has been an amazing week with enriching academic and interpersonal learning. The Moot Court day let me understand the significance of this summer school and the topic we were analyzing

Liv Christiansen

Participant, Germany

I loved the opportunity to learn more about IHL and the protection of the environment during armed conflicts. Getting to learn more about citizen science and the possibility to use results as judicial evidence has been equally interesting. The fact that the lectures related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict gave the lessons learnt great practical relevance and showed how law and citizen science can be applied in real life. This experience was only reinforced by the Moot Court.

Shaun Burnie

Expert witness

The Moot Court and the Summer School were incredibly important experiences—not only did they bring the issue of environmental war crimes further into public awareness, but as a cross-cutting approach, they also strengthened the network. Only through collective effort can we combat the impunity for crimes against the environment and in particular against nuclear power plants. The Moot Court highlighted not only the legal but also the factual challenges, showing that there is still much to be done to achieve justice.