How dangerous was Russia's attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant?

Russian troops have occupied Europe's largest nuclear power plant, after fierce fighting near the Ukrainian facility that drew international condemnation and sparked fears of a potential nuclear incident.

Those concerns were quickly downplayed by experts, who warned against comparisons with the plant at Chernobyl, where the world's worst nuclear disaster occurred in 1986.

Modern plants are significantly safer than older ones like Chernobyl, they said. But analysts nonetheless expressed horror that Russia's violent invasion of Ukraine has spilled into nuclear facilities, a development with few recent parallels.