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It’s been 33 years since the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded causing the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.
And until HBO came along with their super popular documentary series on Chernobyl this past June, most people probably hadn’t thought about the catastrophe in Russia in a long time.
Now, in an amazing coincidence, comes word that the monstrous structure constructed to cover the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, aka the sarcophagus, is crumbling and beginning to collapse under its own weight.
The hulking 8,000-ton concrete sarcophagus was constructed, under extreme circumstances, with the intention of it lasting just 30 years.
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According to Science Alert…
Now, the entire sarcophagus has to be dismantled before it comes tumbling down.
The Ukrainian company that manages the Chernobyl plant, SSE Chernobyl NPP, said in an online statement that expert evaluations revealed that the sarcophagus had a “very high” probability of collapse. Only gravity has kept the structure tethered to its supporting blocks, the company said.
So on July 29, it signed a US$78 million contract with a construction company to take the sarcophagus apart by 2023.
Thankfully, they saw this coming and have spent the past nine-plus years building a 32,000-ton New Safe Confinement structure to enclose the sarcophagus that is supposed to contain the radiation for another 100 years.
Below is a view inside the ‘New Safe Confinement’ of the old Chernobyl sarcophagus.
The construction workers will have to reinforce the sarcophagus while its parts are being disassembled (with the help of robotic cranes). The pieces will then be cleaned and shipped off for recycling or disposal.
“The removal of every element will increase the risk of shelter collapse that in turn will cause the release of large amounts of radioactive materials,” the company said in a statement.
But any radiation that gets released probably won’t make its way into atmosphere. For the past nine years, workers have been building a 32,000-ton shell around the sarcophagus. Its parts were assembled in Italy, then delivered to the construction site via 18 ships and 2,500 trucks.
Probably…
Don’t think I didn’t notice them slipping that word in there.
Eh, I’m sure everything will be fine.
The process of cleaning up the radioactive waste inside the structure is expected to last through 2065.