The
existing sarcophagus on the Chernobyl nuclear power station has long been
insecure. Now a new coffin is intended to ensure that the reactor remains safe
for centuries.
The
official date for the start of construction is April 26, the 26th anniversary
of the Chernobyl reactor disaster. That's when work should start on a new
sarcophagus for Block 4 of the nuclear power station. The existing one was put
up in a hurry in the first few months after the accident.
 |
| The explosion in 1986 caused the world's worst nuclear accident |
In April
1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a melt-down and an explosion
which led to the release of several tons of radioactive material. The accident
was caused by an experiment which went wrong, as well as by a number of serious
construction faults in the Soviet RBMK-type reactor.
It is still
not known how many people died as a result. The International Atomic Energy
Agency and the World Health Organization talk of 4,000 fatal cancers among the
emergency staff as a result of exposure to radiation. Environmental
organizations like Greenpeace say that this is a trivialization: they estimate
the death toll is ten times greater.
Sarcophagus
to last 100 years
The
existing concrete mantle was already considered to be in danger of collapse in
the 90s. The new one should last at least 100 years. A new consortium, Novarka,
was founded to carry out the project, including the French Vinci and Bouygues,
the German Nukem and Hochtief, and several Ukrainian companies. Novarka won the
Ukrainian government contract in 2007, for a project which is expected to cost
around a billion euros ($1.32 billion). Much of the money for the
"Chernobyl Shelter Fund" (CSF) comes from the European Union, but the
US, Canada, Japan, Ukraine and other countries are also contributing.
 |
| The existing mantle is no longer secure |
The new
sarcophagus will measure 257 meters (281 yards) across and be 109 meters high,
and it will weigh 29,000 tonnes. Because of the high level of radiation, the
new containment cannot be built directly over the existing one. It will have to
be built on a neighboring plot of land and then shunted into its final
position.
Construction
is set to be completed in summer 2015, but the Ukrainian prime minister, Mykola
Asarov, hopes that it will be ready earlier. He told journalists: "We want
to solve the problem in one and half years."
Uncertainty
about waste disposal
The
administration of the power station says that the existing concrete mantle has
to be stabilized before construction starts. It says that, once the new
sarcophagus is ready, radioactive material from inside the ruined reactor will
be recovered and removed.
But the
Ukrainian nuclear expert Vladimir Usatenko is skeptical. He points out that
no-one has the slightest idea how dangerous the power station and its ruined
Block 4 really are. "The information about the amount of remaining fissile
material in Block 4 was falsified after the accident," he told DW,
"as was all the data about the situation in the power station." All
the plans to make the power station safe, he says, are based on uncertain data.
Just a
cover up?
 |
| Yuriy Kostenko thinks that the new mantle will merely cover up the problems |
Originally
all that was intended was to stabilize the existing mantle and remove the
radioactive material from Block 4, according to Yuriy Kostenko, former
environment minister and head of the Ukrainian delegation which negotiated with
the G7 countries in the 90s. That is when talks about securing the reactor
started. He told DW that Ukraine had had neither the funding nor the technology
to do that. "It's ended up so that, now, all the problems will simply be
covered with a new sarcophagus," he says.
In fact,
the plan includes the possibility of removing the old mantle sometime in the
future, once the new one is in place. That's when the remaining radioactive
material would be removed, without allowing any radiation to get into the
environment.
Authors:
Alexander Sawitzki, Markian Ostaptschuk / mll
Editor: Greg Wiser
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