Overview
- EBRD donors approved a repair program in April 2026, with costs estimated at least €500 million and work expected to take years.
- A Russian-launched drone on February 14, 2025 hit the New Safe Confinement’s outer cladding, ignited a fire and left its containment function degraded, though monitors found no rise in external radiation.
- The New Safe Confinement, completed in 2019 to enclose the hastily built 1986 sarcophagus over Reactor 4, must be restored before dismantling of the old structure can resume.
- Dismantling of the unstable sarcophagus is paused, and site managers say the setback could delay that work by a decade.
- The European Union on Saturday urged Russia to stop strikes on Ukrainian nuclear sites and to return control of the Zaporizhzhia plant to Ukraine.