Chris Lange, FISM News

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Fears of a catastrophic radiation leak at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant were renewed in the wake of weekend evacuations from areas close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Yevgeniy Balitskiy, the Moscow-appointed acting head of Zaporizhzhia’s regional administration, forced the evacuation of nearly 1,680 people, including about 660 children.

Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi expressed growing concern over the “increasingly tense, stressful, and challenging conditions” for personnel and their families as well as “the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant.”

“We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment,” Grossi warned, according to CNN.

Ongoing fighting has heavily damaged the nuclear power station, forcing operators to rely on backup generators to keep vital cooling towers in operation to avoid a massive radiation leak. Grossi has repeatedly called for a demilitarized zone around the site.

Russian soldiers are also concerned about a nuclear disaster, with many disgusting themselves as citizens to evacuate the region.

There are some [Russian] military personnel who are trying to escape from the temporarily occupied territories,” Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on a broadcast yesterday. “So, our residents report frequent cases when the Russian military personnel change into civilian clothes.”