Nukemailing – Nuklear Power Plants in the Midst of War

The story about Ukrainian nuclear power plants occupied in war. Told by its employees after being imprisoned, interrogated and tortured. What other nuclear consequences may Russian nuclear blackmail bring?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine brought back the fear of a nuclear catastrophe. In the very first days of the full-scale war, Russian troops occupied the exclusion zone around the nuclear ruins of Chornobyl, followed shortly afterward by the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
While the Russian troops withdrew from Chornobyl after a few weeks, Europe's largest nuclear power plant has effectively been occupied since the beginning of March 2022. The plant came under fire several times, the power supply was interrupted and fires broke out. Experts warn again and again. In a war, apparent stability can turn into an acute threat any day. How safe are nuclear power plants during war? What does this do to Ukrainian employees? How or even can the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) help?
The documentary follows three employees of Ukrainian nuclear power plants and tells of the consequences of the Russian occupation. Of fear, illegal interrogations and torture. For IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, the conditions under which the staff have to work are the biggest cause for concern. Working on the film evoked personal memories for director Pavlo Cherepin, who learned the word evacuation early on as a child after the Chornobyl reactor accident. And so the documentary also looks back to the country in which the most serious accident in the civilian use of nuclear energy has not been forgotten. And which renounced nuclear weapons in 1994 in return for security guarantees.