Published On 6/12/2025
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Last update: 11:20 (Mecca time)
The “firewall” of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant, built to contain radioactive material from the 1986 disaster, can no longer perform its main safety function after it was damaged by a drone, for which Ukraine has accused Russia of responsibility, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
The agency said yesterday, Friday, that an inspection last week of the steel insulation structure that was completed in 2019 found that the impact of the drone last February, that is, 3 years after the Russian war on Ukraine, led to the deterioration of the structure.
In a statement, the agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, said that the inspection mission confirmed that the protective structure had lost basic safety functions, including the ability to contain, but also concluded that there was no permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or surveillance systems.
Grossi said repairs had been made, “but comprehensive restoration is still necessary to prevent further deterioration and ensure long-term nuclear safety.”
On February 14, the United Nations reported that the Ukrainian authorities said that a drone equipped with a high-explosive warhead struck the station, causing a fire and damaging the protective cladding around Reactor No. 4, which was destroyed in the 1986 disaster.
Despite this, radiation levels remained normal and stable, and there were no reports of radiation leakage, according to the international organization.
Ukrainian authorities said the drone was Russian, but Moscow denied that it had attacked the station.
It is noteworthy that the Chernobyl reactor explosion in 1986 caused radiation to spread throughout Europe and prompted the Soviet authorities at the time to mobilize huge numbers of personnel and equipment to deal with the accident. The last operating reactor at the station was closed in 2000.
Russia occupied the station and the surrounding area for more than a month in the first weeks of its war on Ukraine in February 2022, as its forces initially tried to advance towards the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
The IAEA conducted the inspection at the same time as it conducted a nationwide survey of damage to electricity substations caused by the nearly 4-year war between Ukraine and Russia.