The dome protecting the nuclear reactor that exploded in Ukraine's Chernobyl in 1986 will require more than $575 million of repairs after it was damaged in a Russian strike last year, France's foreign minister has said.
The structure was pierced in a Russian drone strike in February 2025, sparking international anger and concern about the safety of the power plant, some four decades on from the world's worst nuclear accident.
In 1986, while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, a reactor at Chernobyl exploded during a botched safety test, sending clouds of radiation across much of Europe and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
"We presented this evening the first financial estimate of the damage caused by this drone, which amounts to more than 575 million dollars," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot after chairing a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on Thursday.
The G7 group, which France currently chairs, will play a key role in raising the funds, he said.
It will work closely with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), he added.
"I went to the scene in July 2025 to witness the devastation of this war without limits," said Barrot.
In November 2016, a massive metal dome was erected over the remains of the reactor – paid for with almost 2.5 billion dollars in international funding – to stop future leaks.
The Russian drone strike left a large hole in the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the outer of two radiation shells covering the remnants of the nuclear power plant.
It functions as a modern high-tech replacement for an inner steel-and-concrete structure known as the "sarcophagus", a defensive layer built hastily after the 1986 incident.
The plant's director told AFP in late 2025 it could take another three to four years before the outer dome regains its primary safety functions.
Russia's army captured the plant on the first day of its Ukraine war, before withdrawing a few weeks later.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Moscow of targeting Chernobyl and its other nuclear power plants, saying Moscow's strikes risk triggering a potentially catastrophic disaster.
