Chernobyl - Still Smouldering

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.