Representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) have visited the Chornobyl NPP industrial site in Ukraine to conduct a detailed inspection of the damage caused by the drone attack in February on the New Safe Confinement (NSC).
The impact caused a 15-square-metre hole in the external cladding of the arch and further damage to an area of about 200-square-metres, as well as to some joints and bolts. It took about three weeks to fully extinguish smouldering fires in the insulation layers of the facility.
The visit followed an extraordinary EBRD Assembly meeting, jointly with the Ministry of Environment of Ukraine and the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management. The meeting approved an allocation of €400,000 for specialist-led damage assessment in order to initiate the restoration process of the NSC.
The delegation, which included senior managers of EBRD’s Nuclear Safety Department, observed the NSC technological building, main volume, and the main crane system’s northern maintenance garage. Additionally, they held a working meeting with representatives of the Chornobyl NPP management.
The NSC was completed in 2019 to cover the sarcophagus (shelter) that was hastily erected in the immediate aftermath of the 1986 accident to protect the destroyed reactor. It was intended to protect the shelter from rain and meltwater, and to provide a space to carry out its partial dismantling.
It has two layers of internal and external cladding around the main steel structure – about 12 metres apart – with the IAEA confirming that both had been breached in the incident. The NSC was designed to allow for the eventual dismantling of the ageing makeshift shelter and the management of radioactive waste. It is also designed to withstand temperatures ranging from -43°C to +45°C, a class-three tornado, and an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale.
The NSC was financed by the Chernobyl Shelter Fund administered by EBRD. It received €1.6bn ($1.7bn) from 45 donor countries and EBRD provided €480m of its own resources.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Ukrainian nuclear regulators, radiation levels have remained within normal levels. However, IAEA recently noted that, as a result of the drone strike, the confinement function of the NSC has been compromised. “The fires and smouldering resulted in extensive damage, including to the northern side and to a lesser extent to the southern side of its roof, according to an initial site evaluation shared with the IAEA team based at the site. The NSC will require extensive repair efforts.”
