Chernobyl tomb nears completion

[reece(:]

Burying the horrors of Chernobyl: Extraordinary images of giant steel arch which will shut off radioactive site as countryside remains desolate 27 years on

- Structure set to be completed by 2015 and will protect against another radiation leak
- Workers at the site have an annual radiation allowance and must stop if they exceed it
- The huge arch could encase the Statue Of Liberty and fit a football pitch inside
- It is being built a few hundred yards from reactor, and will be wheeled into place when completed

The structure looms large over Chernobyl, which was abandoned after the 1986 disaster
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This is the huge steel arch that will entomb Chernobyl's reactor four, and slash the risk of another radioactive disaster.

The construction, which is one of the biggest engineering projects in history is being built to seal of of nuclear fuel buried inside reactor four which blew up in 1986.

Standing 360 feet tall, and 843 feet wide, the arch will be held together by 680,000 bolts. The huge arch will seal off the reactor at the plant, which blew up in 1986 releasing deadly radiation across Europe

Costing £1.5billion to build the feat of engineering is a small price to pay to prevent another disaster like the one which blighted generations in the Ukrainian region.

Radiation from the blast also spread across the former USSR and Europe prompting fears at the the time about the safety of nuclear power stations.

Don Kelly, an American nuclear industry veteran is overseeing the project.

He told the BBC: 'Nothing like this has ever been attempted before.
'For anyone in the nuclear business, this is the place you want to be: the biggest, most exciting project in the world right now.'

Specialists from 24 countries are working on the massive project which reached its halfway point in the autumn.

Ukrainian veterans of the disaster are also advising on the works, which should be completed by 2015.

The reactor at the site was badly damaged in the original explosion and fire, and is too radioactive for the arch to be assembled directly above it.

So the construction is being put together at a safer distance in two parts, and when both are ready they will slide along tracks to be clamped together in the correct position.

The project is being paid for by 40 countries, and all staff working at the site have an annual allowance of how much radiation they can be exposed to.

For some working around the chimney at the site, an entire year's allowance could be used up in just a few hours.
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When finished the arch will be big enough to house the Statue Of Liberty, and wide enough to encase a football pitch.

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Images of the tomb and surroundings:
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2516149/Burying-horrors-Chernobyl.html

I know this is the safest thing to do but the reactor as it is really is iconic and is a tourist gold mine... does this mean the rest of the area will be opening up again eventually? I cannot see many going back there to stay permanently.

[Samm]

I would not go there even know it's safe

[user104658]

This won't make the area safe, this is being built because the protection put in place after the initial meltdown was only capable of lasting 20 to 30 years before the radiation destroyed it and the area would be facing another potential incident. Think of it as putting a fresh bandage on a wound that's still bleeding profusely.

It's not just the reactor thats a risk in that area... I read a story about two (stupid) men who went into the town and took a car, as everything is just abandonned there. They both died a matter of hours later, as the car itself was radioactive.

In all likelihood; no one will EVER be able to live anywhere near the site.