Translated with AI
The United States will allocate $100 million (€86 million) to repair the protective arch at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, damaged by a drone attack. This was announced on April 29 by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal.
According to him, the issue of funding for the restoration of the protective confinement was discussed during the International Chernobyl Conference. Currently, Shmyhal noted, the total funding requirement for restoration is approximately €500 million.
The Minister expressed gratitude to the US State Department, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, as well as the American delegation working in Kyiv, and the administration in Washington for their contribution to strengthening radiation safety in Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also stated the importance of the US decision and thanked the American side for its support.
Damage to the protective structure reportedly occurred last February, when a drone struck the steel and concrete containment over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant reactor. Ukraine blamed Russia, but Moscow denied the accusations. According to Kyiv, the strike breached the containment.
No radiation leak was detected. However, following an inspection, the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that the containment structure was no longer fully capable of performing its safety functions.
The Chernobyl disaster, the worst accident in the history of nuclear power, occurred on the night of April 26, 1986, when the plant's fourth reactor exploded. Radioactive contamination affected large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, as well as several European countries.
A 30-kilometer exclusion zone was established around the plant, from which more than 115,000 people were evacuated. Approximately 550,000 people participated in the cleanup efforts. The accident had a significant impact on attitudes toward nuclear energy: from 1986 to 2002, not a single new nuclear power plant was built in North America or Western Europe.
