Chornobyl dome is leaking, IAEA confirms

The protective dome — known as the “new, safe confinement” –built over the original Chornobyl Unit 4 reactor sarcophagus cost $1.75 billion. It was constructed and partially funded by a European collaborative and completed in 2019. But it took just one cheap Russian drone to blow a hole in it during a February 2025 attack that was part of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Now, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that the dome is no longer containing the radioactivity still being emitted by the melted fuel from the destroyed reactor nearly 40 years after the fatal April 26, 1986 disaster that blew it apart, releasing radiation across the former Soviet Union and much of Europe.

The dome was needed as the original Russian-built sarcophagus could only contain radiation for up to 30 years. The new shield is meant to “contain radiation during the decades-long final removal of the sarcophagus, ruined reactor building underneath it and the melted-down nuclear fuel itself,” reported the Guardian, which also described the IAEA’s latest concerns.

The Guardian quoted IAEA director general Rafael Grossi as saying that “comprehensive restoration remains essential to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety”.

(Headline photo of the Chernobyl “new, safe confinement” shield, by Hnapel/Wikimedia Commons)

More