The authorities in Ukraine have approved a giant steel cover for the radioactive site of the world's worst nuclear disaster - Chernobyl.
The existing shelter was hastily constructed after the accident
The existing shelter was hastily constructed after the accident
Ukraine has hired a French firm to build the structure to replace the crumbling concrete casing put over the reactor after the 1986 accident.
The casing project is expected to cost $1.4bn (£700m).
It will take five years to complete and the authorities say they will then be able to start dismantling the reactor.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko hailed the project:
"Today is probably the first time that we can openly look into the eyes of the national and international community and say that a solution to the problem that has long been called the Chernobyl problem was formally found," he said.
Weather exposure
The French construction company Novarka will build a giant arch-shaped structure out of steel, 190 metres (623 feet) wide and 200m long.
It will cover the existing containment structure which stands over the reactor and radioactive fuel that caused the accident in 1986.
The reactor still contains 95% of its original nuclear material, and exposure to weather and poor construction has left the existing casing weak.
A separate deal has also been signed with the US firm Holtec to build a storage facility within the exclusion zone for nuclear waste which has been produced by Chernobyl.
The money for the schemes has come from international donors.
The fund is administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Its president, Jean Lemierre, said the continued commitment of Ukrainian authorities and the international community was vital for the projects to be successfully completed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6999140.stm
Published: 2007/09/17 16:31:03 GMT
$505 Million Deal for Chernobyl Shelter
By MARIA DANILOVA
The Associated Press
Monday, September 17, 2007; 1:53 PM
KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian officials signed a $505 million contract with a French-led consortium Monday for construction of a new shelter for the Chernobyl reactor, the site of the word's worst nuclear accident.
The project, financed by an international fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will be designed and built by the French-led consortium Novarka, which includes the companies Bouygues SA and Vinci SA.
French junior minister for industry and foreign trade Herve Novelli, right, and Vinci SA Chairman Yves-Thibault de Silguy visit the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, on Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, with the sheltered Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 in the background. Ukrainian officials on Monday signed a $505 million (Euro 364 million) contract with a French-led consortium for the construction of a new shelter for the Chernobyl reactor, the site of the word's worst nuclear accident. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov) (Sergei Chuzavkov - AP)
The new shelter _ an arch-shaped steel structure 345 feet tall and 490 feet long _ will enclose the concrete sarcophagus erected hastily after the 1986 accident. That structure has been crumbling and leaking radiation for more than a decade.
"I am convinced that today, possibly for the first time, we can frankly tell the national and international community that the answer to the problem of sheltering the Chernobyl nuclear plant was found today," President Viktor Yushchenko said at the signing ceremony, according to the presidential Web site.
The plan is to eventually dismantle the sarcophagus and the exploded reactor inside the new shelter. Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing radiation over a large swath of the former Soviet Union and much of northern Europe. An area roughly half the size of Italy was contaminated, forcing the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked for money from the European Union and other Western sources to fund a new shelter.
Anton Usov, a spokesman for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said it will take about 1 1/2 years to design the shelter and another four to build it.
The entire project of sheltering the reactor, which began in 1997 and also includes strengthening the existing sarcophagus, monitoring radiation and training experts, is estimated at $1.39 billion, Usov said.
Officials also signed a $200 million contract with New Jersey-based Holtec International for decommissioning the power plant. The project includes building a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel from the plant's three other reactors, which kept operating until the station was shut down in 2000.
That undertaking is also financed by international donors in a fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
"The successful implementation of the project depends not only on the progress of the construction work, but also on the continued commitment of both the Ukrainian authorities and the international community," European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Jean Lemierre said in a statement.
In the first two months after the disaster, 31 people died from illnesses caused by radioactivity, but there is heated debate over the subsequent toll.
A 2005 report from the U.N. health agency estimated that about 9,300 people will die from cancers caused by Chernobyl's radiation. Some groups, such as Greenpeace, insist the toll could be 10 times higher.