 "Chornobyl nuclear protective shield damaged in drone strike, UN agency reports")
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, on Friday, said that the protective structure built to contain radioactive remnants of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster has been compromised after sustaining drone damage at the war-hit Ukrainian site. Ukraine has blamed Russia for the strike, which officials say has left the shield unable to perform its primary safety function.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that an inspection last week of the steel confinement structure, completed in 2019, found that a drone impact in February, three years into Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, had degraded the structure.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the mission confirmed that the protective structure had lost its primary safety functions, including its confinement capability, while also noting that no permanent harm had been caused to its load-bearing elements or monitoring systems.
Grossi added that repairs had already been made but stressed that comprehensive restoration is essential to prevent further deterioration and secure long-term nuclear safety.
Ukraine blames Russia as radiation levels remain stable
The UN reported on February 14 that Ukrainian authorities said a drone carrying a high explosive warhead struck the plant, caused a fire, and damaged the protective cladding around reactor Number Four, which was destroyed in the 1986 disaster. Ukraine said the drone was Russian, though Moscow denied attacking the plant.
However, radiation levels remained normal and stable, and no radiation leaks were reported, the UN said in February.
The 1986 Chornobyl explosion spread radiation across Europe and led Soviet authorities to mobilise vast numbers of personnel and equipment to confront the accident. The plant’s final operating reactor closed in 2000.
Russia occupied the plant and its surrounding area for over a month in the early weeks of its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as its forces attempted to advance on Kyiv. The IAEA carried out the recent inspection as part of a wider country-level assessment of damage to electricity substations caused by the nearly four-year war between Ukraine and Russia.
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