Overview
- Greenpeace says the February 2025 drone puncture left the New Safe Confinement unable to work as designed, with repairs expected to take three to four years.
- The plant director warned in December 2025 that another strike could cause the shelter to collapse.
- The IAEA concluded the 1986 explosion followed operator errors and severe flaws in the reactor design and shutdown system.
- About 600,000 cleanup workers known as liquidators faced high radiation, and many still report illness and a lack of recognition.
- The exclusion zone spans thousands of square kilometers in Ukraine and Belarus, and the IAEA says parts will be unsafe for human life for about 24,000 years.