Chernobyl New Safe Confinement - New Completion Date Announced

According to Igor Gramotkin, Director-General of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, facility administration hopes completion of the facility's New Safe Confinement structure will occur in 2013. Design delays have pushed back the structure's expected completion date.

Both the state of Ukraine and the Chernobyl Plant administration are looking for the most reliable equipment to avoid future operational risks for the NSC, which is being designed to be functional for at least 100 years. Thus, the Chernobyl Plant administration is not prepared to necessarily accept the cheapest system available.

The cost of the NSC object is currently estimated at 1.6 billion euros, over twice the original estimate of 758 million euros. Gramotkin did not rule out the possibility that the final construction cost will be higher.

The stabilization of the existing Sarcophagus was completed in 2009. This stabilization effort has increased the safe operation of the aging structure for at least 15 years.

The NSC will have the following characteristics:

Height: 108 meters
Width: 257 meters
Length: 150 meters

While the New Safe Confinement project has been delayed, at least it's nice to know they're not "cheaping out" on systems and materials. If building the best and safest possible confinement structure requires a longer period of time, that's fine with me. At least the existing Sarcophagus has been stabilized, minimizing the threat of collapse.