Chornobyl NPP NSC lost key safety functions - IAEA

According to the IAEA, the New Safe Confinement (NSC) at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, damaged during a drone attack in February, has lost its main safety functions. However, the IAEA noted that the NSC did not suffer permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems. This was stated in a statement by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, as reported by UNN.

Details

Last week, another IAEA team completed a comprehensive safety assessment of the New Safe Confinement at the Chornobyl site, which was severely damaged by a drone strike in February. This event also caused a serious fire in the outer cladding of the massive steel structure, built to prevent any radioactive release from the reactor destroyed during the 1986 accident.

The mission confirmed that the NSC had lost its main safety functions, including containment capability, but also found that no permanent damage had been done to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems.

Limited temporary repairs have been carried out on the roof, but timely and comprehensive restoration remains important to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety.

Based on the findings of the IAEA mission, the IAEA recommends further work to restore and protect the NSC structure, including humidity control measures and an updated corrosion monitoring program, as well as modernization of the integrated automatic monitoring system for the "shelter" facility structure, built on the reactor roof immediately after the accident.

Recall

Ukraine's foreign partners coordinated further steps to restore the Arch of the New Safe Confinement over the 4th power unit of the Chornobyl NPP, destroyed in 1986, which was hit by a Russian drone in February 2025.