"As Ukraine looks like a country teetering on the edge of war, there's an important factor to keep an eye on: The country's 15 nuclear reactors.

"There haven’t been many conflicts in states with nuclear power facilities in the past, so we're really entering unknown territory here," said Jeffrey Mankoff, Deputy Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Russia and Eurasia Program. NATO has already shown its concern, sending a small team of civilian experts to Ukraine in April to advise the government on the safety of its infrastructure.

There is a historical component to the anxiety: In April 1986, a reactor of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Chernobyl exploded, causing the worst nuclear disaster in history, and a high rate of cancer among emergency workers and people living in the affected areas even today. Chernobyl happened in a time of peace: Today, Ukraine's reactors operate near a war zone."

Rick Noack reports for the Washington Post September 3, 2014. [2]