Ukraine: Chernobyl Reactor Operating Normally After Power Outage

Ukrainian authorities announced today, Thursday, that conditions at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor have returned to normal after a power outage that lasted more than three hours, due to Russian shelling that targeted an electrical facility near the site.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy told AFP that "everything is operating normally today," while a spokesperson for the restricted area around the plant (30 km radius) confirmed that power supplies have been restored and the site is functioning as usual.

The outage affected the new containment cover that encases the reactor that exploded in the 1986 disaster, as well as the old concrete roof that was hastily constructed after the incident, without impacting the older structure connected to an alternative power line or the storage sites that contain tons of spent nuclear fuel.

The Chernobyl plant is located 100 kilometers north of Kyiv and witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history in 1986 before shutting down its last reactor in 2000. It was occupied by Russian forces at the beginning of the invasion in 2022 before they withdrew after weeks.

The plant had previously been attacked in February by a Russian drone, causing damage to the containment structure, but without any recorded increase in radiation levels. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, under Russian control, is also experiencing repeated shelling without any radioactive contamination.