Western Europe could be on the brink of a nuclear disaster according to a leading chemical weapons expert and former British Army colonel. He has claimed it is “quite likely” that Russian forces have planted “explosives” in the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with a view to blowing them up.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, who was commanding officer of the UK’s Joint Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Regiment, told Express.co.uk that under the current weather conditions a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia plant would likely see radiation travel “westwards”.
The former British Army officer warned: “Let’s say they [Russia] do blow it up… if they have wired the reactors and blow them up, there will be an amount of contamination created.
“The explosions would likely create a fire then that would create the contamination. Now depending on the weather that depends on where the contamination is [headed].
‘Putin will not need to push atomic button’
He continued: “I think with the weather how it is at the moment, it looks likely that most of the contamination would go westwards predominantly [towards] western Ukraine, western Zaporizhzhia, probably up into Poland and into Germany, and could go beyond.”
In a chilling nod to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the bio-security expert noted that radioactive contamination reaching the UK is not out of the question: “You know, when Chernobyl blew up a lot of contamination actually landed in north Wales, so at this stage one can’t predict it.”
Mr de Bretton-Gordon, who advised the Government in the wake of the Salisbury Novichok poisoning, said that although engineered explosions within the reactors of the Zaporizhzhia facility would not create the “mushroom cloud” of a nuclear bomb, he conceded it would allow Putin to bring about a nuclear attack on the West without having to push the atomic button.
He said grimly: “I describe it as an improvised nuclear weapon”.
The veteran added that Ukrainian intelligence about the presence of explosives devices within the Zaporizhzhia plant is probably correct, as the spy service has proven itself reliable regarding previous claims about Russian activity. In particular, he said, Ukrainian intelligence surrounding the presence of Russian explosives around the Kakhovka Dam, which appeared to have been blown up on June 6, was accuarate.
He explained: “The information and intelligence coming out over the last 10 days to two weeks… one is from the Ukraine intelligence services saying that the Russians have mined and put explosives in the reactors, and that claim has been quite consistent.
“When you look at the [Kakhovka] dam, Ukraine intelligence claimed the same and they were absolutely right. So, the Russians mined the dam and blew it up, creating a massive eceologial disaster not dissimilar in scale to what happened when Chernobyl blew up.
He continued: “So we then look at what is the likelihood that explosives are being placed within the reactors and within the [nuclear fuel] pools – to me it seems quite likely. It’s a very small step from blowing up a dam that has affected two or three million people, to blowing up a nuclear power station.”
President Zelensky, in a joint press conference with visiting Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, expressed his grave concerns that the Kremlin is plotting to attack the nuclear plant in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the war back in his favour.
He said: “There is a serious threat because Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station that could cause an emission of dangerous substances in the air.
“We are clearly communicating, we discussed the need with our partners so everyone understands why Russia is doing this.”
