A drone strike has damaged the protective shield of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, rendering it unable to contain the radioactive material from the 1986 explosion, the United Nations nuclear agency said on Friday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that the shield can no longer perform its primary safety function after an inspection of the steel structure last week. The agency found that the drone strike had degraded the shield back in February, in an attack that Ukraine has blamed on Russia.
Throughout the war, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of obstructing IAEA staff rotations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and risking a potential nuclear catastrophe by attacking the facility.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement that the inspection “confirmed that the protective structure had lost its key safety functions, including its containment ability, but also noted that there was no permanent damage to the supporting structures or monitoring systems.”
Grossi said initial repairs had already been carried out, “but full recovery remains essential to prevent further deterioration and to ensure long-term nuclear safety.”
The UN reported on February 14 that Ukrainian authorities said a drone struck the plant, causing a fire and damaging the protective layer around reactor number four, which was destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl explosion. Ukrainian authorities said the drone was Russian; however, Moscow denied attacking the plant, Euronews.al reported.
Radiation levels remained normal and stable, and no radioactive leaks were reported, the UN said in February. The 1986 Chernobyl explosion spread radiation across Europe and forced Soviet authorities to mobilize massive personnel and equipment to contain the disaster. The plant’s last operational reactor was shut down in 2000.
Russia occupied the plant and surrounding area for over a month in the early weeks of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as its forces initially attempted to advance toward the capital, Kyiv.
The IAEA conducted the inspection alongside a national assessment of damage to electrical substations caused by nearly four years of war between Ukraine and Russia.
