Much of the reporting about Ukraine's nuclear power plants and the potential for catastrophe under Russia's invasion has been "irresponsible" and led to undue fears, Neil Chatterjee, the former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said on Newsmax Monday.
"Any time you're talking about nuclear radiation — that obviously will trigger alarm bells," Chatterjee, who was in office under former President Donald Trump, told Newsmax's "National Report."
"It's a cause for concern, but I want to be very clear. We are not on the precipice of some kind of nuclear disaster right now."
Chatterjee's comments come in response to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll that shows 41% of Americans were "very concerned" that Russia would use nuclear weapons in its attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine gets almost half of its power from nuclear power plants, said Chatterjee, so the possibility of Russia taking the plants tactically must be taken seriously, but still steps are taken to protect such facilities.
"Obviously, it's not good when Russian troops are shelling a nuclear plant, but these plants are designed and safeguarded and I think nuclear power is safe power," he said.
On Sunday, Pavlo Pavlyshyn, the director of the Rivne nuclear power plant, told France 24 "We will not surrender the station" to Russia, and that it's important to keep plants open to keep the power on for Ukrainians. Chatterjee said that stance is "another example of the incredible bravery and fortitude of the Ukrainian people."
"When you think there are people who have been in these plants for weeks in a row ... they're not sleeping, they're not able to change clothes, and I'm not sure what their access to food is," he said.
Meanwhile, workers at the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was seized by Russian forces in late February, were able to change shifts and go home Sunday after being at the plant for three weeks, The Washington Post reports.
"It is a fact of modern warfare that enemy combatants target the grid," said Chatterjee. "They target power systems. They know that knocking out power is very disruptive, and so it's not just military installations that are at the front lines of this fight. You've got civilian nuclear engineers who are really stepping up in an incredible way.
"I'm just awestruck by the determination of the Ukrainian people to protect these plants and to keep the lights on."
The hostilities in Ukraine also show how critical energy has been in terms of the conflict, said Chatterjee.
"There have been a lot of conversations in the past few weeks about gas and about the world's dependence on Russian gas, as we now pivot this conversation to nuclear power," said Chatterjee, adding that he hopes lawmakers in the United States and Europe don't "make the mistake Germany did" after the 2011 accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.
Germany, backing away from nuclear power, only made itself more dependent on Russian gas, said Chatterjee.
"Nuclear power is really important, not just for our energy security, but also for reducing carbon emissions," he said. "I don't want knee-jerk negative reactions here in the U. S and elsewhere to move away from critically important nuclear power."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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