IAEA warning after drone hits used fuel facility near Chernobyl

WNN, 8 June 2026

Significant structural damage was caused to a building at the new central used fuel storage facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has said.

In a briefing to the IAEA’s Board of Governors, and in a subsequent press conference, Grossi said that in a separate incident on Friday a drone had injured Russian military personnel undertaking de-mining activities as part of an IAEA-mediated ceasefire to allow the main 750 kV Dniprovska external power line to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to be fixed.

He said that over the weekend there had been further negotiations with both sides before it was agreed that the IAEA would send observers to monitor the mine-clearing work, which is necessary before the repair work can take place on the external power supply lines on pylons on either side of the military front line.

“Without the Dniprovska line, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s off-site power situation is very fragile. Over the past days, the plant suffered its 18th offsite power outage since the war began. With a duration of 15-hours, it was also one of its longest, necessitating the use of emergency diesel generators to cool the six shut down reactors until offsite power was restored on Saturday morning,” he said.

The incident with a drone striking the three-year-old Central Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone took place on Sunday, with Grossi reporting it caused “significant structural damage to part of the fuel reception building, including the IAEA safeguards office. Spent fuel was stored in casks just a few hundred metres from the damaged building. Thankfully, radiation levels at the facility remained normal, indicating the incident did not cause radioactive contamination. It remains unclear when the facility will be able to start receiving spent fuel from Ukraine’s operating nuclear power plants again”.

He added: “Attacking a facility with large amounts of nuclear material is extremely dangerous. It must not happen.”

The Centralised Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility is a dry storage site for used nuclear fuel assemblies from the country’s VVER-1000 and VVER-440 reactors. It is designed to have a total storage capacity of 16,530 used fuel assemblies, including 12,010 VVER-1000 assemblies and 4,520 VVER-440 assemblies. Contracts were signed for its construction with USA-based Holtec International in 2005, although construction only began in 2017.

It started receiving used nuclear fuel from the country’s nuclear power plants at the end of 2023 and it has been operating under a commissioning licence. It was issued with its operating licence last month after an inspection carried out from 20 April to 1 May.

Operator Energoatom said the fire caused by the drone strike covered an area of 40 square metres and “was quickly localised and completely eliminated”. It said there were no injuries among the personnel and the radiation situation remained within normal limits.

During his speech to the board of governors and during his media briefing, Grossi maintained the IAEA’s stance of not attributing blame to either side for incidents during the war…………………….. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/iaea-warning-after-drone-hits-used-fuel-facility-near-chernobyl