The site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is to be encased again, with a new steel sheath erected over the current crumbling concrete sarcophagus. “Today is probably the first time that we can openly look into the eyes of the national and international community and say that a solution to the problem that has long been called the Chernobyl problem was formally found,” said Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko (AP, BBC).

A $505 million contract to design and build the steel cover was yesterday awarded by Ukraine to French-led consortium Novarka (government press release, Le Monde). Other projects will take costs of this next phase of the Chernobyl clean up to $1.39 billion, funded by Ukraine and international donors under the auspices of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD press release).

Called the ‘New Safe Confinement’, an arch-shaped structure 105 metres high, 150 metres long and 260 metres across will be constructed on site and then slid over the reactor. Eventually it is hoped that the reactor and the concrete sarcophagus can be dismantled inside the new cover (AP). Around 95% of the reactors’ original nuclear material is believed to still be inside the concrete casing (BBC).

Work should start in October and finish in 2012. The steel cover is designed to last 100 years and by the end of this time “Chernobyl will not exist anymore” according to Yves-Thibault de Silguy, chairman of Vinci, one of the companies that make up Novarka (AFP). Meanwhile Vinci’s colleague Pierre Berger sees a great opportunity in the disapperance “Cela va permettre de démontrer le savoir-faire français dans un secteur – la déconstruction nucléaire – qui offrira d’énormes débouchés au cours des cinquante prochaines années.” [“It will give us an opportunity to demonstrate French savoir-faire in an area – nuclear deconstruction – which is going to open up enormously in the next 50 years”] (Le Monde)

Image: 4th Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant before the accident / via WikiMedia