New Safe Confinement at Chornobyl left without electricity after Russian strike on Kyiv Region

Facilities at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, including the New Safe Confinement over the destroyed reactor unit, were left without electricity after a Russian strike on energy infrastructure in the city of Slavutych, Kyiv Region, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported.

According to the ministry, the Chornobyl NPP “was plunged into a blackout” after a Russian drone strike on a power substation in the city of Slavutych on the evening of Oct. 1. The Kyiv regional authorities reported that some 20,000 residents were without electricity.

“As a result of power surges, the New Safe Confinement, which is the key facility isolating the destroyed fourth reactor unit of the Chornobyl NPP and preventing the release of radioactive materials into the environment, was left without electricity,” the Energy Ministry stated.

At present, the ministry noted, work is underway to restore the power supply.

The New Safe Confinement is a containment structure built over the destroyed reactor unit of the Chornobyl NPP to prevent the spread of radioactive particles following the 1986 reactor explosion. It was commissioned in 2019 and is designed to remain operational until the end of the century.