International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi says Ukrainian firefighters have been working around the clock in freezing weather to completely extinguish small fires that still smoulder after the recent drone strike on the New Safe Confinement (NSC) covering the remains of Chornobyl’s (ChNPP) reactor 4.
The IAEA team based at the site was granted unrestricted access to the site of the explosion and conducted an extensive walkdown to assess the damage to the NSC, where the drone that struck pierced a hole through the roof of the large arch-shaped structure built to prevent any radioactive release from the damaged reactor and protect it from external hazards.
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.
Construction of the NSC began in 2007, but due to insufficient funding the completion dates of the facility were periodically postponed. Construction resumed in 2012, and it was put into operation in 2019. In 2021 ChNPP was formally licensed to operate it.
The €1.5bn ($1.69bn) NSC construction project, managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was financed by 45 donor countries and institutions. The €935m contract for the design and construction of the NSC was signed in 2007 between the ChNPP and Novarka (a consortium led by the French construction companies Bouygues Travaux Publics and Vinci Construction Grands Projets). The NSC is 108 metres high, 162 metres long, and has a span of 257m. Its lifetime is a minimum of 100 years.
The arches, which form the basic structure of the NSC, are made of steel tubular elements and lined with 3-layer sandwich panels on the outside. The same panels are also used for finishing the end walls of the structure. To prevent corrosion of the structure, stainless steel was chosen as the material for internal and external walls. Inside, each arch is covered with polycarbonate panels that prevent the accumulation of radioactive particles on the frame elements.
The IAEA team saw smoke coming from the NSC roof and smelled burning plastic. IAEA said efforts continue to put out and prevent the spread of any remaining fires – apparently fuelled by inflammable material in the roof cladding. This has delayed work to start repairing the damage.
Despite significant damage caused by the drone impact, the IAEA team was informed that there had been no change in the radiation levels at the site. This was also confirmed by the team’s own measurements which showed normal dose rate values near the NSC compared to those that the IAEA has recorded since it established a continuous presence at the site just over two years ago.
“This was clearly a very serious incident, with a drone hitting and damaging a large protective structure at a major nuclear site. As I have stated repeatedly during this devastating war, attacking a nuclear facility is an absolute no-go, it should never happen,” Grossi said.
“It is especially concerning as it comes as we are also seeing an increase in military activity in the area around the Zaporizhia NPP. The IAEA remains committed to doing everything we can to help prevent a nuclear accident. Judging by recent events, nuclear safety remains very much under threat,” he added.
During a walkdown at the NSC, the IAEA team members observed that a large area had been affected by the impact of the drone strike and the subsequent blaze. The team confirmed that both the outer and inner cladding of the NSC arch had been breached, causing a hole measuring approximately six metres in diameter and also damaging some equipment as well as electrical cables. However, the structural support beams did not appear to have suffered major damage.
The IAEA team was also shown some of the drone debris remaining at the site, including parts of the wings. The damaged drone had been removed by Ukrainian specialists and taken away for further analysis.
The team was informed that the plant plans to install additional sensors for measuring dose rates and aerosol concentrations near the area impacted by the drone. However, this task cannot be carried out until the remaining fires are totally eliminated to avoid damage to the sensors.
On 17 February, ChNPP reported that efforts continued “to mitigate the consequences of the fire, contain, and extinguish isolated smouldering areas of the insulation material, involving specialised SESU [State Emergency Service of Ukraine] response teams. A total of 17 units of equipment and 93 SESU personnel have been deployed to the site”.
It continued: “Due to damage to the external and internal cladding of the NSC Arch and Main Crane System equipment, the safety boundaries and operational conditions of the NSC-SF Complex have been compromised. According to the results of an emergency inspection of the NSC Arch’s enclosing and load-bearing structures, as well as the maintenance garage of the main crane system, damage to the Arch’s external cladding and certain technological equipment has been identified.”
SESU reported that a total of 85 SESU personnel and 18 units of equipment were involved in the response. “Currently, three groups of climbers are partially dismantling the structures of the shelter and extinguishing three smouldering spots of the roof insulation. The radiation levels at the Chernobyl NPP industrial site are within normal limits.
Russia continues to deny Ukrainian allegations that it was responsible for the drone attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched the attack with a Geran-2 drone “which is the Russian name for the Iranian-designed Shahed-136”. He noted that the attack coincided with the Munich Security Conference, suggesting a possible strategic timing. The head of Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak, threatened Moscow with consequences and promised to give the US a detailed report on the incident.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova countered by accusing Ukraine of staging the attack to gain leverage at the Munich conference as part of a lobbying effort to secure more weapons and money from the West. “There was never any doubt that Zelenskiy would come to the Munich conference empty-handed… The Kyiv regime must always be busy with children’s toys to distract the attention of the conference participants. Zelenskiy travels with performances that are backed up by provocations.” She added that the drone attack was a “reckless” act by Kyiv noting that Russia had been part of the international effort to build the NSC.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “There can be no question of [Russia] striking any objects of nuclear infrastructure. Any claims that this was the case do not correspond to reality. The Russian military does not do this. Most likely, we are talking about another provocation, a false flag attack staged to thwart efforts to end the war through negotiations between [US President] Trump and [Russian President] Putin. It’s obvious that there are those who will continue to oppose any attempts to launch a negotiation process, and it’s obvious that those people will do everything to try to derail this process.”
The IAEA has not attributed blame to either side in line with its established policy. This stance is increasingly being understood by Russian media that was formerly critical of the IAEA’s position. “The emphatically neutral position of the IAEA is becoming a reason for criticism of the IAEA’s actions in both Russia and Ukraine, but the IAEA’s functions are not to investigate the strikes,” said Russia’s Neftegas.
