On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) President Odile Renaud-Basso issued an urgent call for the international community to fund at least €500 million in repairs to the Chornobyl New Safe Confinement (NSC), the massive steel shield built over the destroyed reactor, after a Russian drone attack caused a fire inside the structure in February 2025. The strike knocked out key systems designed to ensure the NSC’s 100-year lifespan, leaving the main steel structure at serious risk of further deterioration and corrosion.
“I take the opportunity to call on the international community to step up and help restore nuclear safety to the levels preceding this reckless attack,” Renaud-Basso said.
The Chornobyl site has been central to the EBRD’s work since 1995. The Bank has led global efforts to stabilize and manage nuclear risks there for three decades, mobilizing over €2.5 billion in international contributions — much of it from G7 nations — and committing more than €700 million of its own resources. The NSC itself was a landmark achievement of international cooperation, slid over the old sarcophagus to contain radiological hazards and enable long-term decommissioning. The drone attack severely compromised both of those functions, threatening to undo decades of painstaking work.
The EBRD now administers the International Chernobyl Cooperation Account (ICCA), a follow-on fund created in 2021 to support hazard reduction, dismantling, safety upgrades, and urgent response measures at the site. The ICCA currently holds €70 million, including recent contributions from France, the United Kingdom, and the European Union — far short of the €500 million needed for repairs. Formal pledging events are expected closer to autumn, and the EBRD is using the anniversary to build momentum and political will ahead of that process.
Renaud-Basso’s appeal is a reminder that the consequences of the war in Ukraine extend far beyond its borders. A compromised Chornobyl structure is not a Ukrainian problem — it is a European and global one. The EBRD has deployed more than €9.7 billion in Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, and its call for Chornobyl repairs fits within a broader argument that protecting critical nuclear infrastructure is as urgent as any other dimension of the humanitarian and reconstruction response.
