Image Credit: Daniel Berehulak / Staff / Getty Images 
The protective shield placed over the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine has been damaged by a drone strike and can no longer contain the radioactive material inside it.
That was the worrying statement issued by the UN’s nuclear-safety watchdog, the IAEA, on Friday.
The protective shield, otherwise known as the New Safe Confinement (NSC) was severely damaged in February when a drone hit the former reactor.
Ukraine accused Russia of carrying out the strike, which the Kremlin denied.
“The NSC had lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability,” the IAEA said.
The shield, built at a cost of $2.3 billion, was placed over the reactor in 2019 to seal in radioactive material and keep out wind, rain and snow.
The New York Post explains, “It weighs 36,000 tons and is 345 feet tall 540 feet long and spans 840 feet. It was named one of the 50 most influential projects of the past 50 years by the Project Management Institute. The NSC was built to last 100 years, it was financed by Chernobyl Shelter Fund.”
The February drone strike also caused a fire that damaged the outer coating of the steel structure built to contain the radioactive ruins of the reactor.
At present, it’s not clear how much of a threat the damage to these critical safety mechanisms is. Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, is just 80 miles from the reactor.
Chernobyl was the scene of the worst nuclear accident in history, which took place in 1986. A faulty design led to a steam explosion that released huge amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding environment.
Russian forces seized the plant early in the war, which began in February 2022, but relinquished it a month later.
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