Two weeks after it was hit by a drone, Ukrainian firefighters are still trying to extinguish smouldering fires within the large structure built over the reactor destroyed in the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear accident, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.
With unrestricted access, the IAEA team based at the site has been closely monitoring the situation following the strike early in the morning on 14 February that pierced a big hole in the New Safe Confinement (NSC), designed to prevent any potential release into the atmosphere of radioactive material from the Shelter Object covering the damaged reactor, and to protect it from external hazards.
Frequent radiation monitoring carried out by Ukraine and independent measurements conducted by the IAEA continue to show normal levels within the NSC as well as elsewhere at the site of the Chornobyl plant.
Aided by thermal imaging including the use of surveillance drones, Ukrainian experts have located smouldering fires in the insulation between the layers of the arch-shaped NSC structure, injecting water to put them out.
Working in shifts, more than 400 emergency response personnel have been participating in the site's efforts to manage the aftermath of the drone strike.
"The firefighters and other responders are working very hard in difficult circumstances to manage the impact and consequences of the drone strike. It was clearly a serious incident in terms of nuclear safety, even though it could have been much worse. As I have stated repeatedly during this devastating war, attacking a nuclear facility must never happen," Director General Grossi said.
Further underlining persistent nuclear safety challenges during the military conflict, the IAEA team at the Chornobyl site has reported multiple air raid alarms during the past week, at times forcing the suspension of the activities to extinguish the fires in the NSC roof. The IAEA was also informed of the presence of drones within five kilometers of the site, including two above one of the intermediate spent fuel storage facilities.
Separately in Kyiv today, an IAEA expert team observed the remains of a drone that Ukraine said were collected following the strike on the NSC. The team observed drone parts that they assessed are consistent with a Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle. However, the team did not make any further assessment regarding the origin of the drone.
Also this week, an IAEA team has been in Ukraine to conduct further visits to assess the status of electrical substations that are critical for the safety of Ukraine's nuclear power plants (NPPs), but which suffered damage during widespread attacks on the country's energy infrastructure in recent months.
NPPs rely on such facilities both to receive the electricity they need for reactor cooling and other nuclear safety functions and to distribute the power they generate themselves.
The IAEA team monitored the current condition of the substations and collected information to identify any further action that could be taken or technical assistance the Agency could provide to strengthen nuclear safety.
At Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the IAEA team reported that the site's only remaining back-up 330 kilovolt (kV) power line was once again available after it was lost for around a week earlier in February due to unspecified military activities. However, the off-site power situation remains highly challenging at the site.
The IAEA team has continued to hear explosions on a daily basis, including some near the ZNPP site. On the evening of 24 February, the team heard multiple bursts of machine gun fire. No damage to the site was reported.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the IAEA teams at the three operating NPPs - Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine - have continued to hear air raid alarms on most days, with the team at the Khmelnytskyy site having to shelter at their hotel on one occasion this week.
The team at the South Ukraine NPP was informed of drones observed three kilometers east of the site early on 25 February. The same morning the team heard anti-aircraft fire followed by an explosion some distance away.
