- Ukrainian firm maintains safety at the former Soviet nuclear power plant where a reactor exploded in 1986
- It’s signed a £64 million contract to deal with the collapsing sarcophagus and remove its debris by 2023
- Robotic cranes and engineers will work to reinforce and dismantle the structure and deal with any hazards
- A £2 billion replacement to the original structure was unveiled in July that stops radiation escaping the site
A hastily constructed steel and concrete ‘sarcophagus’ built to contain fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster is being dismantled – before it collapses.
Experts say there is a ‘very high’ probability that 14,125,866 cubic feet (400,000 m³) of concrete and 16 million pounds (7.2m kg) of steel will come tumbling down.
The Ukrainian firm in charge of maintaining the safety of the former power plant has now signed a £64 million ($78m) contract to deal with the problem by 2023.
It has hired a construction company to undo the work of 600,000 Soviet labourers who started to build the original casing less than two months after the disaster.
A £2 billion ($2.4bn) replacement to the original sarcophagus, which took nine years to build, was unveiled in July.