Site operator Chornobyl NPP (ChNPP) has announced an extension for the dismantling of parts of the original “sarcophagus” shelter facility most at risk of collapse at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine.
The sarcophagus was hastily built around Unit 4 at Chernobyl in the months after the accident of 1986 to contain the radioactive residuals, but was only intended as a temporary structure.
In 2021, ChNPP was issued with a licence to operate the €1.5bn ($1.6bn) structure known as the New Safe Confinement (NSC) that was built to encase Unit 4 and the temporary sarcophagus. The NSC was designed to protect the environment while the sarcophagus undergoes demolition and the nuclear cleanup of the site continues.
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