President Viktor Yushchenko observes the removal of the last nuclear compounds from the third reactor at the Chornobyl nuclear power station on April 23. Courtesy photo Private and government officials responsible for the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s safety said they are gradually making progress.

y making progress.

It’s been 22 years since the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred on April 26, and 200 tons of radioactive material remains entombed in the fourth reactor.

Despite warnings from nuclear watchdogs that Chornobyl still poses an environmental hazard, officials said confidently the plant is secure from any further accidents.

“By the 22nd anniversary of the Chornobyl catastrophe, all reactors except the fourth (the disaster’s source) will be without nuclear fuel,” said Volodymyr Shandra, the Minister of Emergency Situations. “It will be a very important step for ensuring the Chornobyl station’s safety.”

Development of the technical and economic foundations for the New Safe Confinement shelter is expected to be completed by the end of spring 2009, when construction will finally start, said Lauren Dodd, director of the Shelter Implementation Plan management group at the Chornobyl nuclear station.

French construction holding company Novarka signed a Sept. 17 contract with the Chornobyl nuclear station to build the new confinement, and is currently recruiting construction subcontractors.

“Currently all contracts are concluded and they are being executed,” he said. “So we have all reasons to be optimistic about carrying out the plan of activities on the installation.”

The new confinement will cost an estimated $505 million, funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Currently, the budget for all projects at the Chornobyl nuclear plant is $1.5 billion, Dodd said, which includes work by the Kyiv engineering firm KSK and the Chornobyl Shelter Fund.

The new safe confinement is the most important measure in ensuring Chornobyl’s safety, experts said.

“It enables creating a new safe covering to prevent atmospheric condensation from getting inside and radioactive materials from being released,” said Andriy Savin, chief engineer of Shelter Implemention Plan. “Secondly, it creates the conditions to dismantle the shelter installation.”

The new confinement’s operating life is projected for 100 years and during this period, all dismantling and radioactive materials extraction should occur, he said.

The new confinement is expected to be built by first half of 2012, he said.

The Shelter, built just after the catastrophe in 1986, is currently safe enough and won’t allow a new accident to occur, the likelihood of which is “nearly impossible,” Savin said.

“Between 2004 and 2007, stabilization measures were conducted and now we are sure the Shelter can be employed for the next 15 years,” Savin said.

Stabilization measures included reconstructing those parts of the Shelter that deteriorated and creating a special control system to monitor the flux control and the Shelter’s temperature level at all hours, Savin said.

Ukraine’s government plans other preventative measures.

Other than completing nuclear fuel extraction from the Chornobyl station’s reactor, the Ministry of Emergency Situations opened on April 23 the Vector complex to process radioactive waste at the 30­kilometer zone allowing for safe waste disposal.