Drone hits Chernobyl nuclear power plant’s sarcophagus, fire breaks out at site

A drone struck the sarcophagus of the former nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, overnight, sparking a fire at the site, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Radiation levels inside and outside are normal, and no one was injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that Russia was behind the attack and that, according to preliminary findings, the strike significantly damaged the shelter. Moscow has not yet commented.

„At around 1:50 on the night of 13–14 February, the IAEA team at the Chernobyl site heard an explosion coming from the (shelter) protecting the remains of reactor 4 at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This caused a fire,“ the agency said, adding that its staff had been informed that an unmanned aerial vehicle had struck.

Fire crews responded within minutes, according to the statement. There is currently no indication that the shelter’s inner protective structure has been compromised. However, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the incident, along with military activity around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, highlights the ongoing dangers to nuclear safety.

Zelenskyy said the shelter was hit by a Russian drone carrying a high-explosive warhead. „The only country in the world that attacks such sites, occupies nuclear power plants and wages war without regard for the consequences is today’s Russia. It poses a terrorist threat to the whole world,“ he wrote on X, where he also posted a video of the strike and its aftermath. It shows that there is now a hole in the shelter.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in April 1986. The accident and subsequent explosion of the plant’s fourth unit claimed several dozen lives at the site and in the following months. In total, around 4000 people died in connection with the disaster, according to a 2005 report by the Chernobyl Forum.

The plant’s fourth unit, which Russia controlled shortly after launching its invasion of Ukraine before withdrawing from the area, has been covered by a new shelter since 2016, with a design life of 100 years. Its construction cost 1.5 billion euros (then over 40 billion Czech crowns) and involved 45 countries, including the Czech Republic.

The shelter weighs more than 36.000 tonnes (three times as much as, for example, the Eiffel Tower), is 162 metres long, 260 metres wide and 108 metres high. The total area of the structure’s cladding (86.000 square metres) is approximately the size of 12 football pitches. The structure is designed to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 43 degrees to 42 degrees above zero.