International Cooperation Fund allocates €400,000 to assess damage to Chernobyl's New Safe Confinement

The International Chernobyl Cooperation Account (ICCA) will allocate 400,000 euros to assess the damage caused to the New Safe Confinement (NSC) over the destroyed reactor of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, said the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Svitlana Grinchuk.

This decision was taken during an extraordinary session of the ICCA Assembly in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine and the State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management.

“This is the first step in our partnership to restore the normal functioning of the NSS after the Russian attack on February 14. The funds will be used to conduct an expert assessment of the consequences of the Russian drone strike on the NSS protective structure,” Grinchuk wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

According to the minister, negotiations with international partners covered a preliminary assessment of the damage and further steps to restore the NSC's functionality.

“Our main task now is to conduct a thorough analysis and mobilize our donors for further progress. Restoring the functionality of the confinement is a serious problem. There is a possibility that eliminating the consequences of Russian aggression will require more funds than are currently available in the ICCA,” Grinchuk noted.