KIEV (AFX) - Sep 5

 

A new steel shelter for the Chernobyl nuclear plant, destroyed in the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster in 1986, will cost nearly 2 bln usd, Ukraine's emergencies minister David Zhania said today.

"The cost of the new secure shelter for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant... is 1.91 billion dollars," the ministry's press service quoted Zhvania as saying. "This is a preliminary estimate."

The Chernobyl Shelter Fund, run by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, hopes to raise more than 1 bln usd for the project.

Some 28 foreign governments have already pledged to contribute more than 750 mln usd.

Chernobyl's number-four reactor, in what was then the Soviet Union and is now Ukraine, exploded on April 26, 1986, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe.

Following the disaster, a concrete sarcophagus was built over the stricken reactor but the new 20,000-tonne steel case will cover the whole plant.

EBRD officials hope that construction of the gigantic steel shelter will be completed by 2008/2009.

yad/sms/ec/cmr

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

AFX News and the AFX Financial News logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited

News Provided By