By AFP
December 25, 2025
The 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl was the world's worst ever nuclear power plant incident - Copyright AFP Glody MURHABAZI
Sergii VOLSKYI and Tetiana DZHAFAROVA
Inside an abandoned control room at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a worker in an orange hardhat gazed at a grey wall of seemingly endless dials, screens and gauges that were supposed to prevent disaster.
The 1986 meltdown at the site was the world’s worst ever nuclear incident. Since Russia invaded in 2022, Kyiv fears another disaster could be just a matter of time.
In February, a Russian drone hit and left a large hole in the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the outer of two radiation shells covering the remnants of the nuclear power plant.
It functions as a modern high-tech replacement for an inner steel-and-concrete structure — known as the Sarcophagus, a defensive layer built hastily after the 1986 incident.
Ten months later, repair work is still ongoing, and it could take another three to four years before the outer dome regains its primary safety functions, plant director Sergiy Tarakanov told AFP in an interview from Kyiv.
“It does not perform the function of retaining radioactive substances inside,” Tarakanov said, echoing concerns raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The strike had also left it unclear if the shell would last the 100 years it was designed to.
The gaping crater in the structure, which AFP journalists saw this summer, has been covered over with a protective screen, but 300 smaller holes made by firefighters when battling the blaze still need to be filled in.
Scaffolding engulfs the inside of the giant multi-billion-dollar structure, rising all the way up to the 100-metre-high ceiling.
Charred debris from the drone strike that hit the NSC still lay on the floor of the plant, AFP journalists saw on a visit to the site in December.
– ‘Main threat’ –
Russia’s army captured the plant on the first day of its 2022 invasion, before withdrawing a few weeks later.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Moscow of targeting Chernobyl and its other nuclear power plants, saying Moscow’s strikes risk triggering a potentially catastrophic disaster.
Ukraine regularly reduces power at its nuclear plants following Russian strikes on its energy grid.
In October, a Russian strike on a substation near Chernobyl cut power flowing to the confinement structure.
Tarakanov told AFP that radiation levels at the site had remained “stable and within normal limits”.
Inside a modern control room, engineer Ivan Tykhonenko was keeping track of 19 sensors and detection units, constantly monitoring the state of the site.
Part of the 190 tonnes of uranium that were on site in 1986 “melted, sank down into the reactor unit, the sub-reactor room, and still exists,” he told AFP.
Worries over the fate of the site — and what could happen — run high.
Another Russian hit — or even a powerful nearby strike — could see the inner radiation shell collapse, director Tarakanov told AFP.
“If a missile or drone hits it directly, or even falls somewhere nearby … it will cause a mini-earthquake in the area,” he said.
“No one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing after that. That is the main threat,” he added.
Russian strike could collapse Chernobyl shelter: plant director
By AFP
December 23, 2025
Kyiv has accused Russia of repeatedly targeting the Chernobyl site throughout the invasion - Copyright AFP Farooq NAEEM
A Russian strike could collapse the internal radiation shelter at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine, the plant’s director has told AFP.
Kyiv has accused Russia of repeatedly targeting the facility, the site of a 1986 meltdown that is still the world’s worst ever nuclear disaster, since Moscow invaded in February 2022.
A hit earlier this year punched a hole in the outer radiation shell, triggering a warning from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had “lost its primary safety functions.”
In an interview with AFP, plant director Sergiy Tarakanov said fully restoring that shelter could take three to four years, and warned that another Russian hit could see the inner shell collapse.
“If a missile or drone hits it directly, or even falls somewhere nearby, for example, an Iskander, God forbid, it will cause a mini-earthquake in the area,” Tarakanov told AFP in an interview conducted last week.
The Iskander is Russia’s short-range ballistic missile system that can carry a variety of conventional warheads, including those to destroy bunkers.
“No one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing after that. That is the main threat,” he added.
The remnants of the nuclear power plant are covered by an inner steel-and-concrete radiation shell — known as the Sarcophagus and built hastily after the disaster — and a modern, high-tech outer shell, called the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure.
The roof of the NSC was severely damaged in a Russian drone strike in February, which caused a major fire in the outer cladding of the steel structure.
“Our NSC has lost several of its main functions. And we understand that it will take us at least three or four years to restore these functions,” Tarakanov added.
The IAEA said earlier this month an inspection mission found the shelter had “lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability, but also found that there was no permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems.”
Director Tarakanov told AFP that radiation levels at the site remained “stable and within normal limits.”
The hole caused by the drone hit has been covered with a protective screen, he said, but 300 smaller holes made by firefighters when battling the blaze still need to be filled in.
Russia’s army captured the plant at the start of its 2022 invasion, before withdrawing a few weeks later.
By AFP
December 23, 2025
Kyiv has accused Russia of repeatedly targeting the Chernobyl site throughout the invasion - Copyright AFP Farooq NAEEM
A Russian strike could collapse the internal radiation shelter at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine, the plant’s director has told AFP.
Kyiv has accused Russia of repeatedly targeting the facility, the site of a 1986 meltdown that is still the world’s worst ever nuclear disaster, since Moscow invaded in February 2022.
A hit earlier this year punched a hole in the outer radiation shell, triggering a warning from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had “lost its primary safety functions.”
In an interview with AFP, plant director Sergiy Tarakanov said fully restoring that shelter could take three to four years, and warned that another Russian hit could see the inner shell collapse.
“If a missile or drone hits it directly, or even falls somewhere nearby, for example, an Iskander, God forbid, it will cause a mini-earthquake in the area,” Tarakanov told AFP in an interview conducted last week.
The Iskander is Russia’s short-range ballistic missile system that can carry a variety of conventional warheads, including those to destroy bunkers.
“No one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing after that. That is the main threat,” he added.
The remnants of the nuclear power plant are covered by an inner steel-and-concrete radiation shell — known as the Sarcophagus and built hastily after the disaster — and a modern, high-tech outer shell, called the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure.
The roof of the NSC was severely damaged in a Russian drone strike in February, which caused a major fire in the outer cladding of the steel structure.
“Our NSC has lost several of its main functions. And we understand that it will take us at least three or four years to restore these functions,” Tarakanov added.
The IAEA said earlier this month an inspection mission found the shelter had “lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability, but also found that there was no permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems.”
Director Tarakanov told AFP that radiation levels at the site remained “stable and within normal limits.”
The hole caused by the drone hit has been covered with a protective screen, he said, but 300 smaller holes made by firefighters when battling the blaze still need to be filled in.
Russia’s army captured the plant at the start of its 2022 invasion, before withdrawing a few weeks later.
