It produces electricity for 4 million homes: The Russians attacked Zaporizian, should we fear a nuclear disaster?

The Zaporizina nuclear power plant in Ukraine was built between 1984 and 1995 and is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

This plant has six reactors, each producing power of 950 megawatts and a total of 5,700 megawatts, enough energy for 4 million homes.

Under normal conditions, it produces a fifth of the electricity across Ukraine and almost half of the energy produced by all nuclear power plants in Ukraine.

This thermal power plant is located southeastern Ukraine. It's about 200 kilometers from the contested Donba region and 550 miles south of Kiev, writes Guardian.

What happened on Friday morning?

A fire broke out in the early morning hours of Friday on this thermocent, following attacks by Russian forces, Ukrainian authorities said.

The first reporting came from an employee at the thermal power plant, which published on the Telegram fire that broke out following the Russian forces' attack and that this was one of the biggest threats for Europe coming from its largest thermal power plant.

Ukraine's foreign minister confirmed the news at 2:30 a.m., tweeting in Titter that the attack came from all sides of Zaporizia. He called for an immediate ceasefire.

A little later, the State Emergency Service in Ukraine reported that the radiation rate in the thermal power plant was within normal limits.

Ukrainian authorities now report that the threat has passed and that the power plant is secured.

Earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency said there is no indication that something has changed to the radiation rate in Zaporizia.

The United States has confirmed this news earlier. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said reactors at the plant are protected from radioactive flows.

Russia has already occupied the other power plant permanently at Chernobyl, located 60 miles [100 km] north of Kiev. Analysts say Zaporizia is a thermal power plant slightly different than Chernobyl, and add that its security is greater than the latter that caused the global disaster in 1986.

The chances of an explosion are small, says Tony Irvin, professor at Australia's National University. /The Guardian/Periscope