Chernobyl nuclear power plant 1# - Ukraine

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The Ukraine 2016

The story behind the photo:

This is the last photograph I took of the old sarcophagus before it was covered by the new one.

The sarcophagus that encloses the exploded reactor was hastily erected to seal in the enormous amount of radiation present. Today there are still 180 tons of radioactive material left in the sarcophagus, mainly consisting of uranium, plutonium and caesium. At the time of construction it was estimated that it would last for 30 years, but today the sarcophagus is in a very serious condition with numerous cracks all over its surface of roughly 1500 square meters. From these fissures radioactive dust, gas and water leak out and from the base of the reactor the radioactive isotopes seep out with water infiltration. 
For this reason a new safe confinement was built and put in operation on November 2017. The New Safe Confinement has a span of 257 m, a length of 162 m and a height of 108 m. The total cost is 1,5 billion euro, and the “new sarcophagus” has been designed for a lifetime of 100 years.

From the project "Chernobyl Stories" The Ukraine 2014-2019