The new facility is worth EUR 1.5 billion / Photo from facebook/usovant
The new facility will help solve the problem of dismantling the sarcophagus, which covered the exploded reactor after the accident in April 1986.
A new safe confinement worth EUR 1.5 billion built over the fourth reactor of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant has been put into operation and handed over to Ukraine; it is expected to operate at least for the next 100 years.
"Twenty-two years since the launch of the Chornobyl Shelter Fund, a new safe confinement has been put into operation and handed over to Ukraine. The international community raised EUR 1.5 billion for the project. The EBRD's contribution amounted to more than EUR 700 million," Senior Adviser on Foreign Affairs at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Anton Usov wrote on Facebook on July 10.
According to Usov, the new facility will help solve the problem of dismantling the sarcophagus, which covered the exploded fourth reactor after the accident.
The Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine in turn welcomed the official handover to the Ukrainian authorities of the permanent shelter – the New Safe Confinement – built to secure the site of the 1986 devastating reactor blast at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
"The world's largest mobile metal structure is a result of over 20 years of planning and construction, and of a major effort by Ukraine and the international community. The EU has been a major donor to the construction of the shelter, with over EUR 431 million contribution. Ukraine will now be in charge of the operation and maintenance of the facility, and also the dismantling of the original shelter hastily built shortly after the accident," the EU Delegation said on Facebook on July 10.
Read alsoEBRD: Chornobyl's New Safe Confinement project completes final commissioning test
The EU also looks forward to the soonest completion of the new safe and secure storage (Interim Storage Facility 2) for the spent nuclear fuel, which is to become the next major step to convert the site of the tragic accident of 1986 into a stable and environmentally safe condition, it said.
According to the EU Delegation, the EU has spent around EUR 1 billion in total to help Ukraine on nuclear safety issues since 1991. Beyond the major contributions to international nuclear safety programs, the EU has been implementing a substantial bilateral cooperation program with Ukraine, to which about EUR 480 million has been granted since 1991, covering regulatory issues, safety of nuclear power plants, management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
"The EU, as an expression of the solidarity with the people in Ukraine most affected by the Chornobyl accident, has also funded a series of social projects for the benefit of population living in close proximity to the accident site. The long overdue re-establishment of full independence of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine and the start of transposition of EU legislation as laid down in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement will be key priorities for our cooperation over the next months," it said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate in January issued state-run enterprise Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant permission to carry out activities on the operation of existing building structures that serve as the containment circuit of a new safe confinement after reinforcing and sealing. According to the design decisions, the integrity, strength and stability of the new facility should be ensured for the next 100 years.