A giant structure designed to prevent radioactive leakage at the Chernobyl nuclear plant is no longer operational after reckless Russian drone strikes. The New Safe Confinement (NSC) was built as part of a £1.3billion (€1.5bn) effort led by the European Union in 2019. 

The goal was to provide a new protective cover over the infamous Reactor 4 destroyed in the horror disaster which, in 1986, killed more than 30 people in the immediate aftermath and impacted the lives of millions more. However, the steel structure has “lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability” when Russian drones set the outer cladding ablaze in an attack earlier this year, according to a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog added that there was “no permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems”.

To ensure “long-term nuclear safety”, nuclear watchdog’s director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said, “timely and comprehensive restoration remains essential”. Limited and temporary repairs, he also said, have already been carried out on the roof of the NSC.

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