Bennett Ramberg, U.S. State Department policy analyst in the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs under President George H.W. Bush, Apr. 14, 2014: […] Ukraine confronts a nuclear specter of a different kind [than Chernobyl,] the possibility that the country’s reactors could become military targets in the event of a Russian invasion. […] Ukraine’s parliament [called] for international monitors to help protect the plants […] the angst is real. […] With the exception of the 1990’s Balkan conflict, wars have not been fought against or within countries with nuclear reactors […] military jets overflew Slovenia’s Krško nuclear power plant in a threatening gesture […] Serbian nationalists called for attacks to release the radioactive contents. […] the sheer scale of Ukraine’s nuclear enterprise calls for far greater global concern […] aging plants provide 40% of Ukraine’s electricity. […] In Ukraine, nuclear emissions could exceed both Chernobyl and Fukushima. Wartime conditions would prevent emergency crews from getting to an affected plant […] In the event of fighting near reactors, the West should prepare to ferry forces to secure the plants […] in the event of a meltdown, the West should rally both governments to initiate a cease-fire […] failure to prepare for the worst is not an option.

Ramberg’s analysis suggests several scenarios:

• Warfare is rife with accidents and human error, and […] could cause a meltdown
• Fighting could disrupt off-site power
• Operators could abandon their posts
• Combatants could invade nuclear plants
• Others might take refuge there, creating a dangerous standoff
• Failure of military command and control
• Fog of war could bring plants under bombardment

Andrii Deshchytsia, Ukraine acting foreign minister at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague: “Potential threat to many nuclear facilities [should events deteriorate into open warfare].”

Ihor Prokopchuk, IAEA ambassador from Ukraine wrote to the agency’s board of governors: “[An invasion could bring a] threat of radiation contamination on the territory of Ukraine and the territory of neighboring states.”

From Jan. 30, 2014: BBC: Ukraine “on brink of civil war” — Gov’t: Threats to blow up nuclear plants; Facilities on high alert after seizure of energy ministry (VIDEO)