Chernobyl alarm: Protective shield around nuclear disaster site loses its function

2025-12-07 09:22:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Chernobyl alarm: Protective shield around nuclear disaster site loses its

The protective shield built around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine can no longer perform its function to contain radioactive waste as a result of a drone attack earlier this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced.

"The New Safe Confinement (NSC) at Chernobyl, which was severely damaged by the drone attack in February, has lost its key safety functions, including containment capability," the IAEA statement said.

Ukraine has accused Russia of carrying out the February 14 attack on Chernobyl, a charge the Kremlin denies. The nuclear watchdog has recommended a major overhaul of the giant steel structure, which was put in place several years ago to enable cleanup operations and ensure the country's safety nearly four decades after the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.

"Limited temporary repairs have been carried out on the roof, but timely and comprehensive restoration remains essential to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety," said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

It's not the first time Chernobyl has been in the spotlight during Russia's nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Russian forces seized the nuclear plant and its surrounding area in the early days of Moscow's full-scale occupation, taking it over in February 2022 and holding staff hostage. They left the plant and returned control to Ukrainian personnel a little over a month later.

The NSC is a massive, arch-shaped steel structure built at the Chernobyl site to cover the destroyed reactor No. 4 and contain its radioactive material.

As the world's largest movable ground structure, the colossal hangar is a monumental feat of engineering. Built in 2010 and completed in 2019, it was designed to last 100 years and has played a crucial role in securing the country.

The project cost 2.1 billion euros and was financed by contributions from more than 45 countries and donor organizations through the Chernobyl Shelter Fund, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which in 2019 praised the undertaking as "the largest international cooperation ever in the field of nuclear safety."

On April 26, 1986, an explosion destroyed reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl, in what was then the Soviet Union, spreading radioactivity across large parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and beyond.

More than 30 people lost their lives in the nearby city of Pripyat in Ukraine, while many others have suffered from symptoms resulting from radiation exposure since then, according to the IAEA and the World Health Organization, birth defects and cancer rates among residents of the radiation-exposed area are still high. /CNA