On 30th anniversary of Chernobyl, giant arch to block radiation for 100 years

In the middle of a vast exclusion zone in northern Ukraine, the world’s largest land-based moving structure has been built to prevent deadly radiation spewing from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site for the next 100 years. 

Easily visible from kilometres away, the 30,000 tonne ‘New Safe Confinement’ arch will be pulled slowly over the site later this year to create a steel-clad casement to block radiation and allow the remains of the reactor to be dismantled safely. 

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 since late 2010. “We’ve already gone through a number of very risky stages. 

We always have fears, we are people, but there is nothing technical left that is a challenge,” said Vince Novak, the Nuclear Safety Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EBRD has managed the funding of the arch, which has cost around 1.5 billion euros and involved donations from more than 40 governments.

Even with the new structure, the surrounding zone, which at 2,600 square kilometres is roughly the size of Luxembourg, will remain largely uninhabitable and closed to unsanctioned visitors. The upcoming 30th anniversary of the disaster has shone a new light on the long-term human impact of the worst nuclear meltdown in history. The official death toll was 31 but many more people died of radiation-related illnesses such as cancer.