Chernobyl ‘protected for a century’ by new Confinement Arch

[webfact]

Chernobyl ‘protected for a century’ by new Confinement Arch

 

 

CHERNOBYL: -- There were celebrations at Chernobyl on Tuesday because a feat of engineering has emerged from the ashes of its nuclear disaster.

 

A colossal ‘Confinement Arch’ has been successfully put in place to prevent deadly radiation spewing from the stricken reactor for decades to come.

 

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko told a ceremony that the consortium behind the project had guaranteed 100 years of nuclear safety.

 

“A lot of people had doubts, a lot of them didn’t believe in this. But congratulations. Yes, we did it!”

 

While work continues to secure the site, the installation of the new enclosure marks a major milestone.

 

“Thirty years after the accident, pains and costs are still there but the healing process has come a long way,” said former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, who heads the Chernobyl Shelter Fund.

 

“Moving together two halves of the huge arch and sliding the gigantic shelter into position over the historic reactor is like closing a wound, a nuclear wound that belongs to all of us.”

 

On April 26, 1986, a botched test at the Soviet nuclear plant sent clouds of smouldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

 

A concrete sarcophagus was hastily built over the site of the stricken reactor to contain the worst of the radiation, but a more permanent solution has been in the works for years.

 

Easily visible from kilometres away, the 36,000 tonne ‘New Safe Confinement’ arch was slowly pulled over the site over the past four days.

 

The world’s largest land-based moving structure, it resembles a giant aircraft hangar and is tall enough to house London’s St Paul’s Cathedral or Notre Dame in Paris.

 

Decades of work to help make the site safe have been funded by donations amounting to over 2 billion euros from over 40 countries and organisations.

 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development which has managed the funding for the clean-up said the programme to transform Chernobyl into an environmentally safe and secure condition by November 2017 was on track.

 

Even with the new arch, the surrounding zone, which at 2,600 square kilometres is roughly the size of Luxembourg, will remain largely uninhabitable and closed to unsanctioned visitors.

 

 

with Reuters

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-11-30

[edwinchester]

Wonder how they put the containment barrier under the site to prevent leakage into the water table?

[daveAustin]

They haven't, the whole area is screwed because of it, but at least there should be no more crud going directly into the atmosphere.

[Credo]

1 hour ago, edwinchester said:

Wonder how they put the containment barrier under the site to prevent leakage into the water table?

Oops!

[bark]

2 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Wonder how they put the containment barrier under the site to prevent leakage into the water table?

What you don't see; can't hurt you.

[dieseldave1951]

1 hour ago, daveAustin said:

They haven't, the whole area is screwed because of it, but at least there should be no more crud going directly into the atmosphere.

apparently they did it took 3 months to dig their way  under the reactor, They installed a 2mtr thick concrete slab to stop the floor giving way and so cause a chain reaction with the other three reactors, 

initially it was to be a liquid nitrogen cooling system

Edited November 30, 2016 by dieseldave1951

[impulse]

Give it 10 years before they figure out they need to build an even bigger Confinement Arch to seal up the leaks in this one.

 

Declaring a 100 year fix is hubris.  Like declaring an unsinkable ocean liner.

[johng]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

prevent deadly radiation spewing from the stricken reactor for decades to come.

 

 its only been spewing for the last 30 odd years !!   no plomplem

 lets hope that the Russians team up with the Japanese to help them  with the 4 melted down reactors at Fukushima.

[johng]

12 minutes ago, impulse said:

Like declaring an unsinkable ocean liner.

 

or declaring nuclear power as safe

[Morch]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

Give it 10 years before they figure out they need to build an even bigger Confinement Arch to seal up the leaks in this one.

 

Declaring a 100 year fix is hubris.  Like declaring an unsinkable ocean liner.

 

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