Greenpeace warns of the risk of the sarcophagus collapsing at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant

Greenpeace Ukraine has warned of a serious threat at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant: the internal protective shell of the destroyed reactor, built after the 1986 disaster, is facing a growing risk of uncontrolled collapse.

According to the organization, this could lead to the release of highly radioactive materials into the environment almost 40 years after the worst nuclear catastrophe in history.

The latest warning was prompted by a report published on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the April 26, 1986 accident. It says that the New Safe Confinement — the विशाल protective arch over the destroyed reactor — cannot be fully restored after damage it sustained in February 2025 as a result of a Russian drone strike. Earlier, the IAEA reported that after the strike the structure had lost some of its key protective functions, including its ability to contain radioactive materials.

Beneath the outer arch remains the old sarcophagus — a steel and concrete structure hastily built in the first months after the disaster. Greenpeace estimates that it contains about four tons of highly radioactive dust and fragments of nuclear fuel. The organization stresses that unstable structural elements must be dismantled to prevent a collapse, but the war in Ukraine is making such work extremely difficult.

Greenpeace Ukraine senior nuclear specialist Shaun Burnie described a possible collapse as a catastrophic scenario. According to him, because of the damage, the New Safe Confinement is no longer able to perform its functions in full. A similar assessment was given by plant director Serhii Tarakanov, who described the situation as extremely dangerous. He noted that even a missile striking 200 meters from the protective structure could create a shock load comparable to an earthquake, thereby increasing the risk of internal structural failure.

In March, France estimated the cost of restoring the protective arch after the 2025 damage at nearly €500 million. At the same time, according to a separate report by World Nuclear News, restoring the facility’s full functionality by 2030 remains a key goal. However, meeting that timeline depends directly on access to the site and the overall security situation: major construction work is expected to begin no earlier than the end of 2027.

Greenpeace also stresses that the risk to the Chernobyl exclusion zone cannot be considered separately from the ongoing war. According to Burnie, Russian missiles are still flying over the territory of the exclusion zone, posing a direct threat not only to Ukraine but to all of Europe.