{"id":607702,"date":"2026-04-15T04:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607702\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T04:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:17:13","slug":"greenpeace-warns-of-potential-catastrophic-collapse-at-defunct-chernobyl-nuclear-power-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607702\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace warns of potential \u2018catastrophic\u2019 collapse at defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV \u2013 An uncontrolled collapse of the internal radiation shell at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine could increase the risk of radioactivity release in the environment, Greenpeace warned on April 14.<\/p>\n

In 1986, while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, a reactor at Chernobyl exploded, sending clouds of radiation across much of Europe and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.<\/p>\n

The remnants of the plant are covered by an inner steel-and-concrete radiation shell \u2013 known as the sarcophagus and built hastily after the disaster \u2013 and a modern, high-tech outer shell, called the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure.<\/p>\n

Kyiv has accused Russia of repeatedly targeting the site since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, including a strike in 2025 that pierced the outer shell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a report released on April 14, days before the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Greenpeace warned that despite some repair works, the confinement function of the NSC \u201ccould not be fully restored\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis increases the risk of radioactivity release in the environment, especially in the case of a collapse\u201d of the internal shelter, Greenpeace said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be catastrophic because… there are four tonnes of dust \u2013 highly radioactive dust \u2013 fuel pellets, enormous amounts of radioactivity inside the sarcophagus,\u201d Mr Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist for Greenpeace Ukraine, told AFP earlier in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because the New Safe Confinement cannot be repaired at the moment, it cannot function as it was designed, there\u2019s a possibility of radioactive releases,\u201d Mr Burnie added.<\/p>\n

Greenpeace said deconstruction of unstable elements of the internal shell was necessary to prevent their uncontrolled collapse.<\/p>\n

But any works at the site were impeded by the war raging on as \u201cthere are missiles from the Russians still being fired across Chernobyl\u201d, Mr Burnie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are 40 years on and Russia is still conducting effectively a nuclear war against the people of Ukraine and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Engineers speak in front of monitors in the control room of the New Safe Confinement at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 9.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: AFP<\/p>\n

Plant director Sergiy Tarakanov said the situation around the site was \u201cvery dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a rocket were to drop, not directly into the safe confinement, but just (within) 200m, it will create an external impact like an earthquake\u201d, increasing the risk of the inner shell collapsing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what actually the 1986 accident showed to us… is that the radioactive particles, they do not recognise borders,\u201d Mr Tarakanov added.<\/p>\n

In March, France said the Chernobyl protective dome would require almost \u20ac500 million (S$750 million) in repairs after the Russian strike in 2025. AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV \u2013 An uncontrolled collapse of the internal radiation shell at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-607702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}