IAEA: Chornobyl’s New Safe Confinement Can No Longer Contain Radiation After Russian Drone Attack

The protective steel confinement structure at Ukraine’s Chornobyl nuclear power plant, built to contain radioactive material from the 1986 disaster, can no longer perform its main safety function after damage from a drone strike in February, according to Reuters on December 5. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that an inspection last week of the New Safe Confinement, a steel arch completed in 2019 over the ruined fourth reactor, revealed that the February impact had degraded the structure to the point where it had lost key safety functions, including its ability to confine radioactive materials.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the inspection mission confirmed the protective structure had “lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability,” but found no permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems, adding that “comprehensive restoration remains essential to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety.” 

Ukrainian authorities have said a drone with a high-explosive warhead struck the shelter over reactor No. 4 on February 14, causing a fire and damaging the protective cladding, and have blamed the attack on Russia, while Moscow has denied it carried out the strike.

The UN and the IAEA stated that radiation levels at the site remained normal and stable, with no reports of radiation leaks following the attack. Emergency services successfully extinguished fires in the insulation layers of the shelter, although smoldering hotspots required weeks of work to fully eliminate. 

The New Safe Confinement, part of an international project costing about $1.6 billion, was designed to enclose the original Soviet-era sarcophagus and enable decades of dismantlement and waste management work at the Chornobyl site. 

Earlier, it was reported that a Russian drone strike damaged the nuclear shelter above reactor 4 at Chornobyl, causing fire inside the NSC—but radiation levels stayed stable and were under close monitoring.

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