The Guardian: Chornobyl disaster site enclosed by shelter to prevent radiation leaks

Published Nov. 29, 2016 at 3:36 pm

People attend a ceremony unveiling Chernobyl's New Safe Confinement covering the destroyed 4th block of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant after its installation was completed on November 29, 2016.Ukraine was due to unveil the world's largest moveable metal structure over the Chornobyl nuclear power plant's doomed fourth reactor to ensure the safety of future generations across Europe. The giant arch's height of 108 metres (355 feet) makes it taller than New York's Statue of Liberty while its weight of 36,000 tons is three times heavier that the Eifel Tower in Paris. The 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) structure has been edged into place over an existing crumbling dome that the Soviets built in haste when disaster struck three decades ago on April 26.

Photo by AFP

Reactor number four at Chornobyl, the scene of the worst nuclear accident in history, has been fully enclosed by a vast steel shelter designed to prevent radiation leaks from the site.

The structure covers the reactor and the unstable sarcophagus hastily built by Soviet authorities in the immediate aftermath of the disaster 30 years ago. The shelter is said to be the largest land-based movable object ever constructed. It took several years to build at a cost of more than 1.5 billion euro (£1.27 billion).