REAL LIFE NEWS: A DOME OVER CHERNOBYL
by Hazed
The Chernobyl nuclear power plants in Ukraine suffered the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, and the radiation around the area is still too high for anyone to stay there for more than a brief time.
So the job of decontaminating or otherwise containing the buildings is a very difficult one.
A project to do just that involves building a giant dome to fit over the building that houses the reactor, a New Safe Confinement. But the project has immense challengers because the radiation immediately above the reactor is still so intense that workers can only stay there briefly. This means the dome cannot be built exactly where it is needed.
So the structure is being built adjacent to the buildings, on land which has been cleared and then decontaminated, and it will then be moved into position.
The structure is being built on a system of massive rails. When complete, it will be large enough to accommodate two Boeing 747s, and almost tall enough to house St Paul’s Cathedral in London. It will weigh 31,000 tonnes.
It will take several days to roll it along its special track so that it fits over the reactor building, in order to seal it in.
It’s a monumental project and you can read all the details and see pictures of the building process at the source link below.
The dome won’t just seal all the radioactive material in, it will also create a space in which the hazardous components can be dismantled by remotely operated cranes.
The dome is expected to be completed in November 2017.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31939778
