14 DAY TRIAL // On 26 April, 1986, during a test of the cooling system, the number 4 reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a total meltdown, determining an explosion that spread nuclear material throughout the surrounding regions of current Ukraine, and some parts of Europe. It still stands as the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. In the outcome of the disaster, the Soviet Union ordered the building of a sarcophagus which could seal off the remnant nuclear waste inside the ruins of the reactor.
More than 25,000 people, the so-called 'liquidators', lost their lives due to radiation poisoning as a result of working frantically in the highly radioactive environment. Last Wednesday, the Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko inaugurated a nuclear waste storage and processing center in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear station, in anticipation for the 22nd anniversary since the terrible accident took place.
According to estimates, the storage and processing center will be able to contain up to 75,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste and contaminated material collected from Chernobyl and the surrounding areas. When completed, somewhere between 5 to 10 years, the center will also act as storage area for the nuclear waste currently being produced by the other four nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
The first module is expected to be completed by the end of the year. While the complex's mission is to store and process nuclear waste, it will not accept any material coming from anywhere outside the countries' borders.
The shutdown of the last nuclear reactor still operating at Chernobyl in the year 2000 allowed the Ukrainian authorities to begin a reinforcement of the old sarcophagus built upon the explosion of reactor number 4. Also, with the occasion of the inauguration of the storage and processing complex, Igor Gramotkin, director of the Chernobyl power plant, announced the completion of the reinforcing procedure.
Interfax news reports that according to Gramotkin, the sarcophagus should be able to sustain a 6.0 earthquake on the Richter scale, without spawning any cracks. Meanwhile, Ukraine is preparing to build a steel dome over the old sarcophagus, to ensure future containment of the nuclear waste.
