Ukraine seeking solutions for damaged Chernobyl confinement vessel, minister says

By Yurii Kovalenko

CHORNOBYL, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine is seeking solutions to repair the damage caused by a Russian drone attack to the confinement vessel at the stricken Chornobyl nuclear power plant, a government minister said on Saturday.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Svitlana Hrynchuk was speaking outside the decommissioned station during the inauguration of a 0.8-megawatt solar power facility ahead of two conferences due to discuss Chornobyl and other issues related to nuclear power operations.

She said Ukraine was working together with experts to determine the best way to restore the proper functioning of the containment vessel, or arch, after the February 14 drone strike.

“Unfortunately, after the attack, the arch partially lost its functionality. And now, I think, already in May, we will have the results of the analysis that we are currently conducting …,” Hrynchuk said.

Taking part in the analysis, she said, was the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, scientific institutions and companies involved in installing the arc in 2019 to cover the leaking “sarcophagus” underneath, hurriedly put in place in the weeks following the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.

“In a few weeks we will have the first results of this analysis,” she said.

“We are actively working on this … We, of course, need to restore the “arch” so that there are no leaks under any circumstances, because ensuring nuclear and radiation safety is the main task.”

Officials at the plant said the drone attack punched a large hole in the new containment structure’s outer cover and exploded inside. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at the time called the incident at Chornobyl “a provocation”.

The containment vessel was intended to cover the vast, and deteriorating, steel and concrete structure erected after the plant’s fourth reactor exploded, sending radioactivity over much of Europe in the world’s biggest nuclear accident.

The plant lies within the 30-km (18-mile) exclusion zone set up after the accident, with abandoned high-rise apartment buildings and an amusement park still standing nearby.

Hrynchuk said the solar power facility was important to maintain the power supply to the disused station and was also a start to plans to promote renewable energy in the area.

“We have been saying for many years that the exclusion zone needs to be transformed into a zone of renewal,” she said. “And this territory, like no other in Ukraine, is suitable for developing renewable energy projects.”

(Reporting by Yurii Kovalenko, writing by Felix Hoske and Ron Popeski, editing by Sandra Maler)