CHORNOBYL, Ukraine – A Russian drone attack had badly damaged the confinement structure around the disused Chornobyl nuclear power plant intended to prevent the release of nuclear substances, a senior nuclear industry official said on Friday.
“The barrier which was supposed to prevent the spread of radioactive substances has ceased to function according to its original design,” Oleksandr Tytarchuk, the plant’s chief engineer, told reporters at the stricken plant.
Tytarchuk said the drone had pierced the outer cover of the containment vessel, completed in 2019, and exploded inside.
(Reporting by Yurii Kovalenko; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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