The giant steel arch sealing the remains of Chernobyl’s destroyed reactor needs at least €500 million in repairs, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has warned, and the money must be found before corrosion turns a repair job into a far larger problem.
The New Safe Confinement, the vast structure slid over the ruins of Reactor 4 after the 1986 disaster, was severely damaged by a Russian drone strike on 14 February 2025. The drone punched through the arch’s roof and set fire to its cladding, breaching the seal that keeps radioactive material contained.
Preliminary assessments put the cost of restoring the structure to full working order at €500 million or more, the EBRD said. The Group of Seven leading industrial nations pledged €260 million towards the repairs in October, covering just over half of the estimated bill and leaving roughly €240 million still to raise.
“The damage has to be repaired before 2030,” EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso told Politico, warning that without action moisture would corrode the steelwork beneath the arch and make the radioactive material beneath it much harder and more expensive to manage. The bank says the repairs must be completed by 2030 to limit corrosion and protect the arch’s 100-year design life.
The EBRD is convening a donor conference in Paris on Monday 9 November, co-chaired by France, Ukraine and the bank itself, to close the remaining gap. The bank intends to start the repair work in 2028, with the job expected to take about two years.
There is no immediate danger from the site, the bank stressed. But officials warn that every year of delay raises the risk that the damage worsens, pushing up the eventual cost and complicating the long task of dismantling the original sarcophagus entombed beneath the arch.
The EBRD has led international efforts to stabilise and manage risks at Chornobyl since 1995, mobilising more than €2.5 billion in international contributions and providing over €700 million of its own resources for nuclear safety and decommissioning projects at the site. It is now leading the effort to restore the confinement and raise the remaining funds.
Sources: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development — https://www.ebrd.com/home/news-and-events/news/2026/ebrd-welcomes-g7-commitment-to-finance-urgent-repairs-to-chornob.html ; Politico reporting on the EBRD President’s remarks.
