Power supply has been fully restored at the decommissioned Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant following a Russian strike on energy infrastructure in the city of Slavutych on 1 October. According to reports, eight Geran-2 kamikaze drones hit the 330 kV Slavutich substation and one Geran hit the 110 kV Slavutych substation in the Kyiv region.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the loss of power to the Chornobyl site “once again underlines risks to nuclear safety during the military conflict”. According to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) post on X, after the Chornobyl NPP lost connection to its Slavutych substation 330 kV line, “the site swiftly switched to alternate lines and power was restored, except for the New Safe Confinement (NSC), which covers the old sarcophagus built after the 1986 Chornobyl accident.” Two emergency diesel generators supplied power to the NSC until off-site power was restored to the NSC the next day.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister, Svitlana Hrynchuk confirmed that electricity at all facilities, including the New Safe Confinement structure, had been restored. She stressed that radiation levels remain within control limits and pose no threat to the population. The IAEA confirmed that power had been restored after 16 hours, following damage to the nearby substation.
The purpose of the NSC is to cover the ageing sarcophagus hastily built over the damaged reactor following the 1986 accident and to provide an environment where this crumbling structure could be safely dismantled. It will also make possible the eventual removal of the fuel-containing materials in the bottom of the reactor building and their characterisation, compaction, and packing for disposal. The NSC was financed through the Chornobyl Shelter Fund administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD). The fund received €1.6bn ($1.7bn) from 45 donor countries as well as €480m from the EBRD itself.
In February the NSC was damaged by a drone strike, which caused a fire on its roof. The impact caused a 15-square-metre hole in the external cladding of the arch, with further damage to a wider area of about 200-square-metres, as well as to some joints and bolts. It took several weeks to completely extinguish the fires caused by the strike. IAEA said the emergency work resulted in approximately 330 openings in the outer cladding of the NSC arch, each with an average size of 30-50 cm.
While Russian officials had repeatedly denied any responsibility for the drone damage to the NSC in February, they have not commented specifically on the latest power outage caused by the attack on Slavutych. However, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that the strikes were aimed at Ukraine’s military and energy facilities and related infrastructure.
