The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power complex in Ukraine.

We’re Sending Volunteers to Ukraine
John Reuwer / World BEYOND War

(April 3, 2023) — World BEYOND War’s Zaporizhzhya Protection Project (ZPP) will send a team of four volunteers to Ukraine on April 7 at the invitation of people on the frontline of the war — closest to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.

These four are part of a larger group of volunteers from eight countries who have been meeting for months to learn about unarmed civilian protection (UCP) methods for keeping people safe in areas of violent, armed conflict.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has called for a nuclear safety zone around the plant to protect it from combat activity that could create a nuclear disaster on the order of Chernobyl, but the IAEA has been unable as yet to accomplish this.

Out team is asking for your best wishes and blessings. If you wish to help defray the cost of the mission, please donate to World BEYOND War, and note it is for the Zaporizhzhya Protection Project.

The team’s mission statement is as follows:

Zaporizhzhya Protection Project
Travel Team Mission Statement

The Zaporizhzhya Protection Project is a movement of international volunteers seeking to contribute to the safety of people whose lives are at risk from a war-related disruption of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

A few of us will travel to Ukraine on April 7, 2023 to meet with people who share our mutual concern for the safety of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). This page explains the “what” and “why” for this visit.

What:
The aim of our visit is to meet community leaders and people in the plant zone who are at high risk due to current levels of conflict, and will be among the first to suffer effects of radioactivity if the nuclear plant is seriously disturbed. We want to see for ourselves the conditions the population is enduring.

Our main activity will be to listen deeply to what people wish to share about living in such conditions, and what needs currently exist. We are particularly interested in people’s ideas and proposals for non-military solutions, since military activity is widely agreed to be a serious threat where nuclear power plants are concerned.

Why:
Our project is inspired by the inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and others working to reduce the elevated risk resulting from continued disturbances at the plant, for the sake of large populations in Eurasia and beyond. Parties near the plant continue to report potentially region-threatening incidents at and around the plant.

Since a more stable safety situation would affect all parties in the plant zone, we plan to listen to as many parties as possible to understand their positions on stabilizing the plant’s safety and reducing the possibility of region-threatening nuclear disaster.

Participating Volunteers:
•  Charles Johnson
Illinois, USA

•  Peter Lumsdaine
Washington, USA

•  John Reuwer
Maryland, USA

•  Claire Schaffer-Duffy
Worcester Mass.

On behalf of the dozens of ZPP volunteers from eight countries around the globe.