5 Mar (NucNet): Work will begin next month on constructing the arched frame for the shelter being built above the damaged reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, a report by the country’s minister of emergency situations Viktor Baloga has said.
Mr Baloga presented his report on progress on construction of the so-called New Safe Confinement (NSC) to Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych last week.
Mr Yanukovych said Ukraine “clearly has to fulfil its obligations” to finance projects at the Chernobyl site, where unit 4 was destroyed in a major nuclear accident on 26 April 1986.
In April 2011 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said the start of construction of the NSC was “imminent” and first preparatory works had begun. Work to stabilise the original temporary shelter built over unit 4 in 1986 has also been completed.
The total cost for the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP) at Chernobyl is 1.54 billion euro (about 1.2 billion US dollars) with the NSC costing about two thirds of that. The SIP, launched in 1997, consists of 22 primary tasks, of which the NSC is by far the biggest.
According to the EBRD, the NSC will be assembled on site by the summer of 2015, but in an area to the west of the destroyed reactor in order to reduce radiation exposure to workers. The new structure will then be slid over the temporary shelter.
The arched frame of the NSC is a huge lattice construction of tubular steel members built on two longitudinal concrete beams.
The NSC will be 105 metres high and 150 metres long and consist of a lattice construction with tubular arches. The arches will have a span of 257 metres.
Also in April 2011, the European Union announced a pledge of 110 million euro by the European Commission to complete safety work at the Chernobyl site, part of an overall pledge of 550 million euro made at that time by the international community.
The EU said the contribution represented a big step forward in helping to meet a funding shortfall.
The Chernobyl Shelter Fund (CSF), which is managed by the EBRD was set up to raise money for construction of the NSC, needed an additional EUR 190 million as of April 2011 for completion of onsite projects by 2015.
Those projects include the NSC and the construction of the Interim Storage Facility (ISF-2).
For further information:
www.ebrd.com/pages/sector/nuclearsafety/chernobyl.shtml
