Chernobyl’s New Safe Confinement (NSC) is a design and construction project unprecedented in the history of engineering. Never before has such a huge structure been constructed at a heavily contaminated site. Overcoming the risks and difficulties inherent in the project required years of groundwork and preparation, as laid down in the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP). Work on the New Safe Confinement at the site started in late 2010 and construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The structure was moved into position in November 2016.
The new structure is an extraordinary landmark, tall enough to house London’s St Paul’s or Paris’ Notre Dame cathedrals. To minimise the risk of workers’ exposure to radiation, it was assembled in the vicinity of the site and is now being slid into position.
The New Safe Confinement is 108 metres high and 162 metres long, and has a span of 257 metres and a lifetime of a minimum of 100 years.
The arch-shaped structure weighs some 36,000 tonnes. Its frame is a huge lattice construction of tubular steel members, supported by two longitudinal concrete beams, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.