Update 276 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Ukrainian firefighters have been working around the clock in freezing weather to completely extinguish small fires that still smoulder after Friday’s drone strike on the building containing the remains of the reactor destroyed in the 1986 Chornobyl accident, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.

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 New Safe Confinement (NSC), where the drone that struck early yesterday morning 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 IAEA experts saw smoke coming from the NSC roof and smelled burning plastic.

The ongoing efforts to put out and prevent the spread of any remaining fires – apparently fuelled by inflammable material in the roof cladding – have delayed work to start repairing the damage to the NSC, which was completed in 2019 on top of the sarcophagus that was erected in the immediate aftermath of the accident nearly four decades ago.

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,” Director General Grossi said.

“It is especially concerning as it comes as we are also seeing an increase in military activity in the area around the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. 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 said.

During today’s 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.