Natural radiation at the site is currently 0.1 microsieverts per hour, according to the plant operator, a level below the global average and well below that of a plane flight or X-ray. During the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986, the level of radioactivity reached 300 sieverts per hour, millions of times more.
Following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war with pro-Russian separatists in the east in 2014, Kiev developed security protocols for the physical protection of the country’s nuclear facilities, which have 15 reactors at four different plants.
These improvements involved regular inspections, an assessment of their vulnerability and the implementation of automated data control systems. They also reinforced the air defense over Zaporizhia.