- December 6, 2025
- 12:52 pm
- World News
There is alarm again at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The protective shield, which was built for one purpose — to contain the remnants of radioactive materials and prevent them from returning to the atmosphere — is no longer doing its job. The damage did not come from within, but from the air: a drone that struck the structure disrupted key elements of the shell. This was confirmed by IAEA specialists after an inspection conducted at the site.
The inspection was completed just recently. The picture is unpleasant: the strike, which occurred back in February, coincided with an escalation at the front, and the consequences are now being recorded in reports. The structure, completed just a few years ago — in 2019 — has sustained damage, and how exactly it developed over time is still unclear.
The head of the agency, Rafael Grossi, noted that the main function of the shield — isolation — has been compromised. This is a key point. At the same time, the supporting structures, monitoring systems, and other equipment do not show signs of long-term destruction. But the very fact of a failure in the “first line of defense” makes the situation much more sensitive than officials would prefer to discuss publicly.
Restoration work began immediately. However, what has already been done is only a stage of eliminating the initial consequences. Full repair will be required to stabilize the condition and prevent any further degradation. In nuclear safety terminology, this means: no delays, no simplifications. It’s not about cosmetics, but about the functional return of the structure to the specified parameters.
Meanwhile, the UN reminded of the statement by the Ukrainian authorities: Kyiv accuses Russia of a drone attack with a warhead. According to them, the fire occurred precisely after this strike and affected the outer covering around the fourth reactor — the very one that became the epicenter of the 1986 disaster. Moscow denies its involvement and claims that no strikes were made on the station.
The IAEA separately emphasizes: radiation background indicators remain stable. No leaks have been recorded. Data for February confirm that there were no dangerous emissions. But any such news brings back memories of the scale of the tragedy almost forty years ago, when radiation spread across half the continent and brought the Soviet liquidation system to its knees.
The station has long been out of operation. The last reactor was decommissioned in 2000. But the infrastructure continues to require control and expenses. The situation is complicated by the fact that in early 2022, Russia occupied this territory for more than a month while trying to break through to Kyiv. At that time, the risk was not technical, but military — and this added instability to a region that remained vulnerable even without war.
The IAEA inspection now coincides with a broader assessment of damage across the entire Ukrainian energy system: substations, transmission lines, distribution nodes — all of this has suffered for almost four years in a row. And restoration where nuclear facilities are concerned is perceived much more strictly than in ordinary civilian infrastructure.
As a result, a complex configuration emerges: formally, the radiation background is under control, but the shield needs repair; technical damage is limited, but the very fact of an external strike breaks the sense of stability. And while states discuss who is responsible and what response mechanisms to apply, the information contour changes faster than the physical structure. This is the paradox: safety depends not only on metal and concrete but also on the political dynamics surrounding the object, which continue to be recorded by international publications and regional platforms like NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency, where the context of conflicts and energy security is considered not only as a local story but as part of broader pressure on the entire region.
