Drone attack that Ukraine blamed on Russia blew hole in painstakingly erected €1.5bn shield meant to allow for final clean-up of 1986 meltdown site

The protective shield over the Chornobyl disaster nuclear reactor in Ukraine, which was hit by a drone in February, can no longer perform its main function of blocking radiation, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced.

In February a drone strike blew a hole in the “new safe confinement”, which was painstakingly built at a cost of €1.5bn ($1.75bn) next to the destroyed reactor and then hauled into place on tracks, with the work completed in 2019 by a Europe-led initiative. The IAEA said an inspection last week of the steel confinement structure found the drone impact had degraded the structure.

The 1986 Chornobyl explosion – which happened when Ukraine was under Moscow’s rule as part of the Soviet Union – sent radiation across Europe. In the scramble to contain the meltdown, the Soviets built over the reactor a concrete “sarcophagus” with only a 30-year lifespan. The new confinement was built to contain radiation during the decades-long final removal of the sarcophagus, ruined reactor building underneath it and the melted-down nuclear fuel itself.

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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    45 minutes ago

    The absolute most efficient method for increasing the likelihood of american and european military powers giving larger amounts of military aid to Ukraine.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    4 hours ago

    bombed

    Chernobyl

    Two words I’d never imagine seeing together in the same sentence

    Whoever decided to do this should go toes first through a wood chipper

    • 46_and_2@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      It’s the same people who ordered their soldiers to dig trenches in the irradiated soil close to Chernobyl, in the brief time they occupied it, at the start of Russia’s war. As long as it’s happening away from Putin and his kelptocracy circles, they don’t care about consequences to friends or foes, only how it will benefit them.

  • HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    Yet another example of Russia being the war crime committing aggressor in the war.

    People who take Russia’s side embody values far closer to the Nazis than Ukraine ever has.

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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    7 hours ago

    My first question was, why is this a target? This is terrorism and outside war rules (insane that we have rules for war instead of just not having it). Laws are only as good as their enforcement though.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      55 minutes ago

      Aside from the terrorism aspect, the remaining non-blown reactors were still providing power up until I think 2000 before it was finally fully shut down. Russia has obviously had a fixation on trying to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and outside of any other potential fuckery is probably concerned that Ukraine will be able to power it back up again if they need to, especially if more of their infrastructure elsewhere is blown up.

      Plus, even if the Russians lose Ukraine will still be left holding the bag for cleaning up and repairing whatever additional damage was done to the containment structures.

    • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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      7 hours ago

      Because russia thinks “we can take that and they wont risk defensing it or attempting to take it back because theyd be risking a nuclear disaster”

      Its literally the exact same reasoning for why they didnt expect the rest of the world to get involved, because they have nukes.

  • CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de
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    10 hours ago

    I don’t remember who did it, but there was a good video explaining the issue months ago. It’s not just that there is a hole, but there are multiple layers in the system that are compromised. . A hole was made and a fire started in a lower layer. The fire spread in that space and firefighters needed to make more holes to put the fire out. It’s a major repair in a location that has major restrictions on the ability to execute repairs.

    • ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip
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      4 hours ago

      It’s not incompetence. Incompetence is “My unguided drone veered off a few hundred feet and picked the wrong building.” Someone high up intentionally picked Chernobyl as a target because they knew the west would foot the bill at any price, and this war is a spending game top to bottom. They hit their planned target, probably with a meter or two. This wasn’t negligence or incompetence, it was pure malice.

  • WanderWisley@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    I remember watching a real life lore video where the said the elephants foot is still molten and slowly melting through the flood of the basement of Chernobyl and it could eventually hit the ground water that’s underground and it could explode causing an even bigger situation then the original meltdown.

    • SolSerkonos@piefed.social
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      5 hours ago

      Afaik it’s no longer fissioning, and it hasn’t been for awhile. So it’s not actually molten, and not particularly hot at all.