The New Safe Confinement shield is a 300-foot-tall movable steel structure that will soon be installed over Chernobyl‘s Rector 4 to shield the area from radiation. The 32,000-ton arch is the world’s largest moving structure, and it will replace the dilapidated Sarcophagus shelter installed over the reactor in Chernobyl decades ago. Once the massive superstructure is in place it’s expected to last around 100 years.
Since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster struck on April 28, 28 years ago, scientists and researchers have not been able to come up with a lasting solution to the radiation spreading across Ukraine and Western Europe. Around 216 tons of radioactive material was left exposed inside the remains of Reactor 4. An ad hoc shelter, known as Sarcophagus, was installed but now it is in danger of collapsing, which is why authorities have decided to build another one.
The New Safe Confinement is a huge arch-shaped structure currently being built just a few hundred meters from Reactor 4. The structure could not be built directly on the spot because of the highly radioactive environment. Once completed, the 300-foot arch will be slowly transported and placed over the reactor.