Rubble Cleanup at Chernobyl Plant Nears Completion

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED February 21, 2013

Workers at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site are wrapping up the cleanup of the area affected by a recent partial roof collapse, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) press service said on its website on Thursday.

Large parts of the collapsed structure were removed on February 19, and the current work involves the cleanup of smaller rubble fragments, the press service said in a statement.

Wall panels and parts of the roof caved in on February 12 in the turbine hall at the plant's Reactor Number Four, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986. The damaged area covered about 600 square meters (6,456 square feet).

No one was hurt in the incident and the radiation level in the so-called exclusion zone around the plant has not changed, the power station's management said at the time.

The French-led consortium Novarka resumed work on the construction of a new confinement dome over the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on Wednesday, after a week-long precautionary suspension.

Novarka is building a giant, arch-shaped structure out of steel, 190 meters (623 feet) wide and 200 meters (656 feet) long, to cover the crumbling concrete dome that was built following the explosion. The steel casing project is estimated at $1.4 billion and is expected to be completed in 2015.

Topics: Safety, East Europe, Ukraine

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