Greenpeace mission reports: Fifty percent of north roof structure of Chornobyl New Safe Confinement Shelter severely damaged after Russian drone attack
Kyiv, March 20th, 2025 - A Greenpeace special mission has visited the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in order to investigate the current state of the New Safe Confinement Shelter (NSC). The NSC was hit by a Russian drone on February 14th, which exploded and punctured the roof causing fires that have led to major damage to the roof structure. The fires were confirmed as having been extinguished on March 7th, three weeks after the attack, but fire services remain on alert.
The lead engineer for the Chornobyl NSC and Sarcophagus, Artem Siriy, told the Greenpeace team that 50 percent of the north roof as well as the south roof and side walls of the Chornobyl NSC had been affected by burning caused by the Russian drone attack. There is severe damage to the roof cladding material and damage to critical structures, including the crane system, as well as the potential for initiating corrosion as a result of intrusion of snow and water under the Chornobyl NSC arch. As a consequence, the structure is no longer functioning as designed and licensed.
“The deliberate strike by Russia against the Chornobyl plant is potentially one of the most consequential war crimes perpetrated against Ukraine. The Chornobyl NSC was built at vast cost by the international community to protect the environment from the radioactive materials inside. It was also to allow the careful dismantlement of the Chornobyl sarcophagus and reactor over a period of at least 100 years. It is early in the damage analysis process, but the initial assessment is that the entire project’s future is uncertain at best. Because of the high radiation levels above the Sarcophagus, it is very possible that the entire Chornobyl NSC will have to be moved back on its rail system to where it was constructed before repair can be made at an enormous cost,’ said Jan Vande Putte, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Ukraine.
Additionally, Greenpeace asked former UK military specialists, McKenzie Intelligence Services to analyse the attack on Chornobyl. The analysis concluded that the drone that struck the Chornobyl NSC was a Russian Geran-2 (Shahed type) drone, used exclusively by Russian forces, and was almost certainly pre-programmed to strike the NSC on the night of 14 February 2025. (1) The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has opened a criminal case into the Russian drone attack. “As part of the investigation, we identified the type of weapon used – it is a Geran-2 drone, which is manufactured in Russia. This targeted attack on an object containing dangerous forces is unequivocally a war crime, and it is considered by us as part of the overall policy of the Russian leadership to destroy our country. At the same time, given the possible consequences of such attacks, it is quite obvious that this policy poses a threat to the entire global community”,Yuriy Belousov, Head of the War Crimes Department, Prosecutor General’s Office, Ukraine.
The Chornobyl NSC is the enormous structure that was placed over the Sarcophagus or Shelter Object which was built over the Chornobyl reactor unit 4 that exploded and melted down in April 1986. It was conceived and built over 20 years. Due to the high radiation levels from the destroyed reactor, it was necessary to construct the NSC on rails to the west of the site, and it was moved into place above the Sarcophagus in 2016, and finally completed in 2019. It is the largest moving structure ever built on land with a surface area of 85,000m2. As of today, the radiation sensor network of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant has not identified any increase of radiation levels in the environment (3).
“The failure of the international community to punish Russia for its nuclear war crimes, including the 2022 occupation of Chornobyl and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and massive missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s electricity grid have only emboldened the Kremlin to strike the world’s worst nuclear disaster site at Chornobyl. This must stop. Comprehensive new sanctions by the European Union must be applied against Russia, including against its criminal state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, that is complicit in these crimes,” said Shaun Burnie, nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Ukraine.
Notes:
1 - McKenzie Intelligence Services briefing of 14 February 2025: https://www.greenpeace.org/ukraine/en/news/3390/implications-of-russian-drone-attack-on-chornobyl-new-confinement-shelter/
2 - The New Safe Confinement - https://stories-ebrd.com/chernobyl/#group-THE-NEW-SAFE-CONFINEMENT-wzxBoQ4PyV