Attack damaged €1.5bn containment structure over nuclear reactor with repair costs likely to be borne by western governments

A Russian Shahed drone costing up to £75,000 is estimated to have inflicted tens of millions worth of damage to the site of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, according to initial assessments and engineering experts.

The cost of a full fix is likely to be borne by western governments including the UK, because initial estimates are that a complete repair will cost more than the €25m available in a special international contingency fund.

The strike in mid February did not cause an immediate radiological risk, but it significantly damaged the €1.5bn containment structure built in 2017 to encase the destroyed reactor and is likely to take months if not years to completely repair.

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[–] 103 points 1 year ago* (11 children)

Assuming that a bigger attack could spread radioactive material in the atmosphere, things like this should be considered as an attack on bordering countries too and EU nations should act accordingly.

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  • [+] -69 points 1 year ago* (10 children)

    Why do I get the feeling you think “accordingly” means escalate the military conflict? The exact opposite of what the EU is about.

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  • [–] 67 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    Looks like the psychos trying to blow up the remnants of a nuclear power plant are the ones who are "escalating". My humble opinion though.

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  • [+] -38 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    And why would the UN piling in make that better? It’s already offering materiel and intelligence to Ukraine.

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  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Maybe to prevent the Russian scum from doing more damage to innocent people.

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  • [+] -15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    And how would escalation do that? It would do the very opposite.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago

    Whos escalating exactly? The guys invading a foreign country or the ones who defend themselves?

    If i came to your house and started claiming it as mine would you just give it up because you dont want to escalate things?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    Russia will continue fighting as long as they can and Putin is in charge. The only two ways to end the war are to break the Russian ability to attack, or to get rid of Putin. The former is significantly easier than the latter (though it might lead to the latter).

    So the EU kicking all Russians out of Ukraine would de-escalate and end the war. Not doing anything means Russia will continue its attacks and find new ways to do even more damage.

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  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago

    What they mean is to make an internal statement that this is condemned by the EU, and that we're all clinching our fists strongly in our pockets. You should know how hard I'm clinching right now.

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  • [–] 77 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Western Governments should pay for the repairs, using Russia’s seized assets.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    The attack – quickly concluded to be caused by a drone flying below at a level where it could not be detected by radar – punctured a 15-sq-metre hole in the outer roof. It also caused a particularly damaging, complex smouldering fire to the inner cladding of the structure that took over a fortnight to put out.

    When you know that the little hole is 15 metres across, I'm an idiot, but it gives a sense of how huge that structure is.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    For anybody out of the loop:

    • The hole makes it hard to maintain the lower artificial pressure inside
    • The waterproof isolation has been burning and hundreds of holes have been made to put out the fires

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW4BEqDS_wM

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    That's about what someone wound have to pay me to go fix it

    Materials and tools excluded

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    Fucking idiot Russians. Incredible lack of military discipline, and sloppy leadership. I bet some idiot 22 year old who has never heard of the disaster flew it into the structure while the commander was fucking off somewhere else.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    We spent decades cleaning up this mess and finally had a viable medium-term solution, and they go and fucking burn it up. This war is fucking insane.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Russia is going to pay it all when they lose this pointless war

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    "Chernobyl, what do we need to worry about at- OH SHIT"

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    Uuuhhhhhhhh……

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Chornobyl? Is that different from Chernobyl?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    To give you the benefit of the doubt; it's Russian vs Ukrainian spelling. With Chornobyl being the accepted Ukrainian spelling.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    The popular TV series spells it as Chernobyl so I assume that's the more common spelling

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Russian sure is the more commonly known language than Ukrainian, but the russian invasion of Ukraine has lately boosted the idea that maybe we should start using the Ukranian transliterations instead, especially when talking about places and people from Ukraine - Kyiv/Kiev, Chornobyl/Chernobyl, Zeleskyy/Zelensky, and so on, instead of the way the russian say those names.

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